This year Santa got a good ole’ fashioned British mince pie, and dessert was Plum Duff (a take on the classic English pudding). Because sometimes we pretend to be British. Because I was raised by an Anglophile and became one myself. There were so many events to celebrate the season, many of which I didn’t show pictures of because there are too many. Just know that the violin recital (Neil accompanying Corra on his guitar for “Away in a Manger”), Youth Hot Chocolate party, and all the rest were so fun and absolutely got us in the spirit. Christmas Eve arrived and we made sure to soak it all in. Well, I tried to make sure I soaked it all in…my littlest offspring were dying to do all the things so we could make it to Christmas already. They watched Garyn on the computer and had a board game marathon with Naomi to pass the time faster! But it was our last Christmas with my Grandparents. There is a chance that we may have one more, but not likely. We try not to travel for Christmas and their flying days are limited…I sure will miss those two. But grandma taught me how to make her cinnamon rolls, the fancy kind, so Christmas morning will always be done right. Every Christmas Eve box was checked from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special to new PJs to the extra freezing Christmas Eve drive (our van’s heat went out, just in time for a record cold snap). Christmas Day, Corra and Naomi were up at 4 a.m. and I gave them an emphatic, “No, Ma’ams!” and then they went back to sleep until a more reasonable 6:30. Church was lovely and a quiet night with Grandma and Grandpa and Brenna rounded out the day. It’s quieter now, but I realized some things about Christmas. One of which is that different isn’t worse…it’s just different. And Christmas has enough beauty to cover any amount of different.

Garyn had his viking hair cleaned up and it’s my new favorite style for him. Naomi got the side of her head shaved for a more dramatic “swoosh” and I also love it. I made Grandma cry with their present: a photo book of their career as Great Grandparents to my children. We aren’t good at talking about hard things in my extended family. Grandma has a British stiff upper lip that would put Churchill to shame. So we didn’t talk about “the last one” or “saying good bye”. We just had a quiet moment where we cried together. Then we sniffled a bit and got back to getting dinner on. I’m so grateful for this other woman who taught me so much and impacted who I’ve become. I come from good stock.

My babies are older now. Christmas is shifting. It’s a good thing that it’s built on the one constant in our life. My favorite Christmas CD this year was from a band called For KING and Country. They had an original song that quickly became my favorite and these lines hit me so hard every time I listened to it:

Heavenly hosts cried, “Glory, Glory for the Lord is with us.”
Let all the Earth shout, “Worthy, Worthy Love is come to save us.”

He is with us. He is Love. And all of this is about Him coming here to save us.