My Christmas 6

1. I'm thankful that all three Christmas Eve services at church went well. I've never actually been to a Christmas Eve service before. Amazing, huh? Growing up, we went on Christmas Day. I liked that Aleah sat in the service with me. Thankfully, Bruce had a class to go to. It would have disastrous if he had been in the service with me. The service was really nice, but the only thing I missed? I would have liked to have more carols and congregational singing. I think 1 hour just isn't long enough for a service like that. :)

2. I'm thankful for sleeping in on Christmas Day. Thankfully, the kiddos didn't wake us up until 7:30 and we actually went to bed at a decent time. (No staying up til 2am this year to wrap the presents.) Once we had festivities done, I popped the turkey in the oven and started getting ready for dinner.

3. I'm thankful that Scott's parents came over for dinner. They had unexpected company for 5 days with Jeff & Sara's power out. So, I'm glad that we were able to serve them Christmas dinner.

4. I'm thankful our kiddos LOVE to play games. Aleah received Monopoly Jr. and Bruce Jenga. Before bed on Christmas Day, we played a game of Monopoly Jr. It was really fun and it lasted just long enough that the kiddos didn't get bored with it. Can't wait for the Jenga game. :)

5. I'm thankful for our time with my family, yesterday. Things changed a little this year. Since Scott and Mom had to work on Christmas Eve, we did our festivities on the 26th. We started about 2:30 with presents. Aleah and Bruce made out like bandits. It was very fun complete with the exchange of Victoria's Secret boxes/bags between Scott and Caleb. That tradition started 8 years ago, I think. After presents, we ate dinner. The traditional cold meat sandwiches with all the trimmings and sweets for dessert after the singing and reading of the Christmas story. Unfortunately, our extended family from Warsaw couldn't make it. Since it was going to be so warm, the fog was sure to come. And come it did. I'm sorry we didn't see them, but thankful that everyone stayed safe.

6. I'm thankful for the work that Dad does putting together the Christmas story for our reading. I'll include the references, and let you look them up. He always starts at the beginning:
John 1:1-12
Genesis 3:1-15
Genesis 12:1-3
2 Samuel 7:11-14
Isaiah 7:10-14
Isaiah 9:2-7
Micah 5:1-5
Matthew 1:1-17
Luke 1:26-38
Matthew 1:18-25
Luke 2:1-20
Matthew 2:1-23
Galatians 4:1-7
Amazingly enough, I was struck this year how many evil kings were in Jesus' lineage through Joseph. I think it is such a wondrous story how the man to save the world, came through a lineage of such evil and good men. I'm thankful that He came as a baby to ultimately save us all, no matter what our lineage.