Celebrating Jesus' Birth

I read this recently and it has really forced me to think.

"The spirit of Christmas needs to be superseded by the Spirit of Christ. 

The spirit of Christmas is annual; the Spirit of Christ is eternal. 

The spirit of Christmas is sentimental; the Spirit of Christ is supernatural. 

The spirit of Christmas is a human product; 

the Spirit of Christ is a Divine Person. 

That makes all the difference in the world." 

- Stuart Briscoe in Meet Him at the Manger 

It is so easy to get caught up in the "Spirit of Christmas" and yet somehow forget that Christmas is all about the birth of Jesus, so instead of jumping right into tons of photos about what the kids received as gifts yesterday (gifts really should be the least important thing about Christmas, shouldn't they?) , I have a random assortment of other Christmas memories to share first.  

~ A few days ago the kids initiated their own Christmas Pagent. Our tree skirt became Mary's head covering, stick ponies carried them to and from Bethlehem, and for some reason there were two baby Jesuses. Although the details were kinda' mixed up, I was amazed to hear the accuracy of their story line - including the arrival of the Magi and the family's flight to Egypt.

~ I gave up on making a traditional gingerbread house this year, and instead we made a graham cracker and candy nativity. Joseph came out looking like a cross between the Michelin Man and a cave dweller, and our star keeps falling off, but I think the candy-bar donkey is adorable. The proximity of so much candy has been a huge temptation to the kids, but so far all they have done is lick the frosting out of the joints of the barn. They love moving their little candy figurines and narrating the story.  Again we have two baby Jesuses - I'd better check with them and see why they think we need two.

~ For the past week the kids have been working to create place cards for our annual Christmas morning breakfast. With a dozen people attending, this is not an easy task for beginning writers. They were thrilled to get to the final step of making snowmen out of clay and were very particular about who should receive each little sculpture.

~ The kids named our Christmas Tree "Sikett" this year ;-) giggle ;-) Don't ask me why, I really don't know. There are some things that don't make sense, and are better that way.  They made me promise to take "his" picture . . . So here is Sikett, with my daughter and her beloved Auntie on Christmas morning.

~ After a leisurely breakfast and gift exchange we traveled across town to join the rest of our family for Christmas Dinner (Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding yum!) at my Mom's house.  Dad allowed the kids to sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus in place of the regular dinnertime prayer.  The kids loved it, and it subtly reminded all of us of what we were celebrating.  I really enjoyed this change from our routine.  

~ We concluded our busy day with the annual measuring of the children on my Dad's hall closet door. The kids LOVE this tradition, and were the ones to remind us of it this year.

~ And a few more photos just for good measure:

~ This morning (before daddy even got out of bed) the kids insisted on having a bath with some of their new toys.  These indians were one of their favorite gifts - they were not made to float, but that didn't stop my little ones from trying.  The kids didn't last long after that.  A busy day just begs for a cuddly new bear and a comfy couch to nap on.  

Isaiah 9:6

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."