This is a break from our journey through the Twelve Days of Christmas.
When we finish that little adventure we will not have covered all that is ours in Jesus Christ.
I want to take a few minutes to share the joy of a few specials gifts that I have been enjoying this week.
All of which have come from Papa's loving hand.
He is my True Love!
Christmas of Two Thousand and Twelve is going down as one of the best in memory!
I have received gifts that I will treasure forever!
Were they wrapped and set under the tree?
No.
They are my dear family.
Originally Ray and I were to head to West Virginia the day after Christmas.
Traditionally that is the day each year that I go to visit our eldest, Eric and his family to celebrate Christmas with them. Ray was going to join me this year.
Often I must leave before our other three sons have scattered. It puts a damper on my travels.
This year Papa made it clear, through circumstances, that I needed to put off the visit for a week.
Our third son, Jon lives in New York, which means he is less than three hours travel from us.
Yet, we do not see him much more than we do our West Virginia son.
Life gets busy.
By staying home I was able to enjoy time with him and our other two, who live nearby.
This mother loves having time with her children!
As Ray and I sat at breakfast this morning with our three guys and reveled in being with sons who enjoy one another and are happy to include their parents, I told them that this was my best Christmas.
They asked what made it so and I told them it was being able to spend time with them.
My declaration made them mushy. :)
Picture three very large men suddenly looking like little boys again...
The past four days were filled with leisure time with them.
Breakfast on Christmas morning with Tim, at his place, while Matt and Mindy celebrated the morning alone and Jon traveled to Connecticut by ferry.
By late afternoon three sons and one daughter-in-law were all gathered in our home. Gift exchanging was fun and light. We kept it simple.
Then our shared meal was one of pleasant conversation, filled with laughter.
The following day everyone returned for leftovers, which they declared even better the second time around. Afterwards we spent the evening playing Apples to Apples, which is always good fun!
You learn a lot about a person playing this game...
Thursday found me sharing a big tub of popcorn at the movies with Matt and Jon.
Tolkien's stories are filled with so many spiritual lessons!
The Hobbit stirred up memories for them of me reading the book to them when they were children....
I was chauffeured, which was a nice change!
Upon returning me home our guys did a little shoveling for us before heading off to play in the snow together.
This morning's breakfast capped the week off beautifully!
Now this might sound like a typical family time to many and I must say that it is the way of things in our family now, but I do not ever want to take any of it for granted.
To have a loving family is a gift.
And to enjoy time with them is equally a gift.
Mary treasured in her heart all she discovered about her Son.
I am sure that she did so because she realized that He was a Gift.
Of course, she was the mother of The Gift of God.
Though no one comes close to her Son, I believe we, too, have been given great gifts to treasure in our hearts. Our children definitely are gifts to treasure.
It isn't over yet.
Next week we climb into Pearly and head to West Virginia to celebrate all over again with children, grandchildren and one very special great-granddaughter!
To quote Mary,
When we finish that little adventure we will not have covered all that is ours in Jesus Christ.
I want to take a few minutes to share the joy of a few specials gifts that I have been enjoying this week.
All of which have come from Papa's loving hand.
He is my True Love!
Christmas of Two Thousand and Twelve is going down as one of the best in memory!
I have received gifts that I will treasure forever!
Were they wrapped and set under the tree?
No.
They are my dear family.
Originally Ray and I were to head to West Virginia the day after Christmas.
Traditionally that is the day each year that I go to visit our eldest, Eric and his family to celebrate Christmas with them. Ray was going to join me this year.
Often I must leave before our other three sons have scattered. It puts a damper on my travels.
This year Papa made it clear, through circumstances, that I needed to put off the visit for a week.
Our third son, Jon lives in New York, which means he is less than three hours travel from us.
Yet, we do not see him much more than we do our West Virginia son.
Life gets busy.
By staying home I was able to enjoy time with him and our other two, who live nearby.
This mother loves having time with her children!
As Ray and I sat at breakfast this morning with our three guys and reveled in being with sons who enjoy one another and are happy to include their parents, I told them that this was my best Christmas.
They asked what made it so and I told them it was being able to spend time with them.
My declaration made them mushy. :)
Picture three very large men suddenly looking like little boys again...
The past four days were filled with leisure time with them.
Breakfast on Christmas morning with Tim, at his place, while Matt and Mindy celebrated the morning alone and Jon traveled to Connecticut by ferry.
By late afternoon three sons and one daughter-in-law were all gathered in our home. Gift exchanging was fun and light. We kept it simple.
Then our shared meal was one of pleasant conversation, filled with laughter.
The following day everyone returned for leftovers, which they declared even better the second time around. Afterwards we spent the evening playing Apples to Apples, which is always good fun!
You learn a lot about a person playing this game...
Thursday found me sharing a big tub of popcorn at the movies with Matt and Jon.
Tolkien's stories are filled with so many spiritual lessons!
The Hobbit stirred up memories for them of me reading the book to them when they were children....
I was chauffeured, which was a nice change!
Upon returning me home our guys did a little shoveling for us before heading off to play in the snow together.
This morning's breakfast capped the week off beautifully!
Now this might sound like a typical family time to many and I must say that it is the way of things in our family now, but I do not ever want to take any of it for granted.
To have a loving family is a gift.
And to enjoy time with them is equally a gift.
Mary treasured in her heart all she discovered about her Son.
I am sure that she did so because she realized that He was a Gift.
Of course, she was the mother of The Gift of God.
Though no one comes close to her Son, I believe we, too, have been given great gifts to treasure in our hearts. Our children definitely are gifts to treasure.
It isn't over yet.
Next week we climb into Pearly and head to West Virginia to celebrate all over again with children, grandchildren and one very special great-granddaughter!
To quote Mary,
"My soul exalts the LORD, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior."
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