The Joys Of Christmas

Well, our official Christmas calendar of events started off with a blast last night.  My older son came over with our two grand daughters and we had non stop fun for the next 4 ½ hours!  Previous to their arrival I had pulled out some children’s games, toys and coloring pages along with a brand new box of crayons and placed them on the coffee table in our living room.  As soon as the girls came in the house they made a beeline for the table!  They colored pictures for Mema (my wife), built Play Mobile teepees, put together puzzles, played our youngest daughter’s violin and our piano, thoroughly enjoyed our maze of upstairs rooms and closets and drove the dog crazy!  (Don’t get me wrong, the dog enjoyed every minute of it!)

When dinner time neared we ordered some pizzas, drove out to pick them up and then sat back (well… with two kids under eight to say we sat back would be stretching the truth just a little…) to watch the San Francisco Forty Niners annihilate the Pittsburg Steelers 20-3 before a national audience on Monday Night Football. It was one of the most enjoyable nights that I have experienced for quite some time, and even though my wife was very quiet throughout most of the night, I believe that she also had a very good time.

As I shut the door when they left, I turned and glanced around the living room.  The coffee table was a mess of games, puzzle pieces and colored pictures.  Crayons were strewn around the table top and on the floor and the area rug was askew.   As I continued my observations of the after effects of the night’s activities, my wife’s and my eyes met and we both broke into big laughing smiles.  The dog had kind of a glazed looked on her face as she jumped on the couch and wrapped herself around my wife.  I went over and joined the two of them and we sat back in quiet thought as we soaked in the great family time we had.

I guess that is one of the special things about Christmas.  It is a time to enjoy family and friends with unabashed giving and lavish fun!  At one point our youngest grand daughter Lily came up to my wife and I and started dancing after I had taken down a ballerina Christmas ornament.  When I told her that I was enjoying her dancing, she quickly corrected me and let me know that she was “ballerining, not dancing!”  She was totally caught up in her performance and the results were priceless to us.

I pray that the results of your family times this Christmas will also be priceless to you.  Don’t allow yourself to get frustrated with all the things that you have to do in preparing for this holiday.  Just relax, purpose to enjoy yourself and let the love of Jesus flow in and through you.  Have a great Christmas week.  Stay tuned and keep asking yourself… “What GREAT THINGS am I expecting today?”