Random Christmas Notes

One of our Christmas traditions is to buy a new ornament for the tree each year. That all started our first Christmas when one of Diana’s 1st grade students gave her a “First Christmas Together” ornament. The one we selected this year is a good reflection of our return home. It is wood cut in the shape of our state and reads “Christmas in West Virginia.”

One cold delight this year is having a white Christmas. Five years is a long time to go without the splendid beauty of snow falling against a gray backdrop, a show shelter, sledding or a good snowball fight. The girls particularly can’t seem to get enough, while Daniel has been spoiled with Colorado where snow is measured in feet more than inches.

We made a sanity discovery this year too. In the past we decided that Christmas would be more than a one day event on the 25th but instead a season of celebrations. That gives room for lots of traditions. Over the years those seasonal celebrations have included everything from making Christmas cookies to hosting a living Nativity to attending concerts and filling Samarian’s Purse shoeboxes. So what did we discover? That for the sake of an unfrantic and enjoyable Christmas it is not necessary to do every possible tradition every year. That’s a relief!

A good portion of our week has been spent with Diana’s family. We had everyone over for Christmas dinner. Nineteen of us put our feet under the table to feast on turkey and its trimmings. What a treat and what a scrunch.

Here are a couple of Christmas videos we have enjoyed this year. While I haven’t made the leap into the social networking of Facebook, this clip is very creative. The second is a song written by Andrew Peterson and sung by Jill Phillips. We discovered it a couple of years ago posted on a friend’s blog.