Christmas Day

I hope that all of you had a very merry Christmas, celebrating Christ and enjoying the many traditions and excitement that comes with this special holiday. We had a great day, for which we are very thankful. We had a little time together in the morning to spend as a family. We had a small breakfast, read the Christmas story (to a very wiggly and squiggly little girl), sang, and exchanged gifts. It was a very fun and sweet time with just us three. Then, we got on the computer and were able to video-chat with Eric’s family in Pennsylvania. It was really sweet to get to talk to them and share a little bit of our Christmas excitement. Of course, Noa opening her gifts was pretty entertaining to watch Here are some photos:
Hmm… I think Daddy was a little bit more excited about his gift than in helping Noa open hers…
At 10:30, our friends Ai, Chizuka, Matt, and Tim came over for brunch. We had a great time with them: eating, playing games, exchanging real gifts, and then having a pretty cut-throat round of white elephant gift exchange. Noa surprised everyone at the end when she chose a bag of coffee beans for herself, giving up the Japanese children’s book that Tim then claimed for himself.
Mid-afternoon we headed over to my parents’ house to play and eat and be together some more. We had a great time with all of them, and it was very special for me to be with my family once again for Christmas. Noa had lots of great fun with her uncles and aunts, and then headed to bed in the pack ‘n play while we continued playing and chatting til late in the evening. It was a great day and I’m so thankful for the chance to celebrate our Lord, and to just enjoy the gifts he’s given, especially in the people he has put in our lives.
On Christmas Eve, amidst a bit of chaos as Eric made home-made eggnog and I finished wrapping gifts and preparing for the brunch (I was a bit stressed out) I told Eric that its not as fun being a grown-up on Christmas as it is being a kid. He just laughed at me. I thought about that more into the evening and the next morning as I got up early to bake. I realized that I wasn’t having fun because I felt pressure to “make Christmas special”. I think this probably mostly comes from this being our first Christmas in our own home and it being Noa’s first that she’s really actively participating in. I also wanted it to be really special for Eric because its hard to be away from his family at this time of year.
Anyway, sometime mid-morning I was able to let it go and be content to just enjoy whatever the Lord brought our way that day. And he is SO GOOD. I couldn’t have asked for a sweeter time with my husband and daughter (throughout the whole day), nor a greater time with friends and family. More than that, though, God is good because he invented Christmas. As much as I tell myself all the time how “Jesus is the reason for the season,” I was still so caught up in the frivolities of the day, and not the true joy of knowing Christ, God born as a man to save sinners, to save me! God is so good because though Christmas is a joyous celebration for us, it was a tragic and painful separation for Father and Son. But still, he chose and ordained it out of a great mercy and loving-kindness towards us. At our team prayer last week, my dad was saying just how crazy it is that we don’t celebrate more (both at Christmas and all other times) the advent of Christ; for truly, it is a joyous miracle. This last few days, I have thought of that a lot and pray that the Holy Spirit would work in my heart to make me celebrate “Christmas” often… Not with the pressure of making it “happen” and making it special for my family, but because its already happened through the power and love of God and its already incredibly special without any of our extra trimmings. “GLORY TO GOD in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill to men on whom his favor rests!”

Tags: Japan, Noa, Xmas