To All A Good Night

It's close to 3:00 AM Christmas Eve. It's one of my favorite times of the entire year; the kids are asleep, and I'm up, watching over all that will be revealed in the morning. I always forget what I've wrapped and who's getting what and in THIS family, all things must be equal, so it's important that every kid has the same number of gifts to open. I double check.

We had a wonderful evening. Imagine Christmas was our service tonight, and it was stunning. Amazing. Incredible. I played in the band and got to watch most of the service. At times, I found myself thinking, "Who are these people? How did they think up all this stuff?" And then I realize that this is my team, these are the folks who are investing their lives in our community and in God's work through our church. And I am privileged and honored to work alongside of them. It was a beautiful evening, all around.

We came home to hear The Boys (Travis and Elijah) share the song they wrote for The Girls (Shannon and Sarah) in some sort of song-writing challenging they'd thrown down. Apparently the rules were simple: write a song with the line, "I love you the most." Well, they did, and it was awesome.

We honored our Christmas Eve traditions; the kids opened one gift, which is always pajamas, which they quickly don. I play the Charlie Brown theme song and they do the Charlie Brown dance through the house. Then we gather around to hear the Christmas story; Shannon read this year. We light our "Christmas candle", which is a round blue candle that we have toted around for years, and we sing "Silent Night". Tonight we shared what we believed - about God, about our family, about ourselves. It was special, and good to have Elijah here to share that as well.

They all sleep in the same room on Christmas Eve - another tradition - and they'll awaken in a few hours to run down and see if Santa came.

(He did!)

It was a wonderful evening, and it's a watershed for us. Our family dynamic is changing; "The Boys" have been around for some time, and more and more of our family events include them. And in less than 48 hours, our lives will change again, with a wedding and the addition of another adult in the family. We talked about it and processed it and made our time together tonight a commemoration of something very important.

I am so incredibly grateful for my children. Each Christmas reminds me of the gift I was given in 1990, when Sarah was born one week before Christmas. I became a mother and my life changed, for good, forever.

I love Christmas Eve; I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

Merry Christmas, all. May you find God's greatest blessing and His deepest peace.