Luke 2:1-7
The Birth of Jesus
1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
We have several family traditions that we always do before any presents are unwrapped on Christmas morning, and next year, we plan to incorporate even more. One of our most treasured, though, is the lighting of all of the candles of the Advent wreath, and then reading the Christmas Story and singing some carols.
This wreath is very special to me because it was made by my grandmother.
We are also starting a collection of “folklore” ornaments, ones which tell the origins of familiar Christmas legends. We have a glass pickle ornament from Germany, and whichever clever child finds it on the tree first gets a special treat.
Even though Princess (held in my arms) is staring right at it, Prince found it first this year. I think that’s because he remembered it from last year. We’ll see who finds it in 2011.
Only after we have completed our Christmas Morning Ritual
and eaten some breakfast are we allowed to exchange our gifts. We are trying to make the focus of Christmas be in the right place. But when we
do open them, we then try to spend most of the day playing with them with the kids.
It was a very humble Christmas for us this year, as we are still trying to figure out all of these new bills we have since moving back to the States. Prince received half of my childhood Lego collection. Princess received a laptop that we found on a severe sale. Lord Herndon and I exchanged very practical gifts, but they were still exciting.
If you know Lord Herndon at all, you know this was exciting.
After combining several gift cards and gifts of money, Lord Herndon was able to present me with these: my two new friends in the kitchen. That KitchenAid and I are going to make beautiful music together, and the
Pioneer Woman is my inspiration.
Then, because it was such a beautiful day, we enjoyed a nice long walk around the neighborhood.
All of us shared the Christmas spirit.
We spent the rest of the day at Tom and Danae’s again with the Herndon Clan. My side of the family met in Denver, but we weren’t able to make both gatherings. We’re still trying to figure out how to spend quality time with all of our family after three years of being away.
And at the end of the day, we talked to the kids again about why we do Christmas at all.
All this because of the Baby in the hay. Happy Birthday, Jesus.
