A Happy Christmas Indeed

What a perfectly wonderful Christmas this has been. It may sound corny, but I am sitting here in the glow of the Christmas tree lights, warmed by a fire in the fireplace in front of which the cat is cozily napping, the dog is asleep at my feet, and sounds of busy-ness are emanating from the basement.

Our Christmas-ing began yesterday when Nathaniel called in for a skype video chat. For years, our tradition has been to open one gift together on Christmas Eve. He had received his packages of Christmas presents that morning and we directed him as to which would be good for opening first. Nathaniel's delight at finding not one, but two airsoft pistols with ammunition was equaled only by his roommate's surprise at the ambush awaiting his return five minutes later! As Kate had so wisely said when choosing the weapons for his gift, "After all, the Army doesn't let them play with their real guns".

True.

Our evening last night consisted of our church's Christmas Eve worship service with special music and Scripture readings. Afterward we went to the home of our friends John and Annie for food and fellowship. Our church has become an extended family for us and it is such a blessing to share special times together. The evening passed quickly in the comfortable presence of these loved ones and before we knew it, it was time to leave. Once home there was still much left to do, and Rebekah set to work on homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast while Jim, Erin and Kate had a mysterious project in the basement to finish.

The morning arrived before some of us were ready, and I quietly made my way downstairs to take care of the animals and get coffee started. Rebekah also woke early and resumed her work on the rolls, preparing them for the oven. Nathaniel called in on skype and we decided that the time had come to wake everyone- it was eight o'clock already! So we rousted everyone and gathered at the Nativity scene in order to wish our Savior a Happy Birthday before beginning our day.

Opening presents in our family means taking turns, not an all-out melee. So with Nathaniel in Iraq, we took turns opening the gifts that were under the tree and in the packages sent to the Middle East. The gifts from my Mom we all opened at the same time, all seven of us. Snuggies! we are now warm wherever we are, the frozen tundra of Pennsylvania or the winter cold of Iraq.

Each of the kids enjoys choosing and buying gifts for each of their siblings, so there are plenty of windows into their hearts under the tree. Their insight into one another is touching to see as the excitement of the giver is as great as the excitement of the recipient. Erin found the perfect hooded sweatshirt for Isaac, Rebekah got a down vest for Erin, Isaac chose bracelets for each of his sisters, Kate painted an original watercolor for each of us.

Isaac's Eagles Snuggie!

Our chef, loving Julie & Julia.

Erin is so stylin' in her Snuggie and down vest.

Kate's plastic toy camera made in China... a Holga- Google it!

The mystery revealed- Erin designed and made a windchime/ mobile from antique silverware, a plate and a teapot. Much to the chagrin of the lady at the antique store. I adore it.

Kate's gift to Daddy is a painting of the little red boat he made for her years ago.

The last gift of the morning is normally chosen beforehand and is The Big Gift for the whole family. This year Jim brought home The Big Gift. Isaac opened the final gift; small, and involving lots of tissue paper, and out fell a ping pong ball! Yes, there was a ping pong table in the garage just waiting for space in the basement. The kids get a game table and I get a clean basement!

Once gifts were opened the cinnamon rolls were coming out of the oven so our attention turned to the wonderful culinary creation on which Rebekah had worked so hard last night and this morning. What wonderful, gooey, tasty-sweet confections our breakfast was! What an unparalleled blessing to have a chef in our family! The recipe turned out two 13 x 9 pans of rolls, which is far more than our family can reasonably consume in one day, so Erin ran a pan of them down to our neighbors to enrich their family morning feast.

Oh. Yum.

A quiet midday followed breakfast and a ham was slipped into the oven in anticipation of friends stopping for a late lunch. A few weeks ago we'd heard from our friends, the Kuypers, from Florida. They were going to be in the area Christmas day, driving from NYC toward North Carolina, and wondered if it would be too much trouble to stop by to say hello. We insisted that they stay for a meal, as the thought of anyone eating at a roadside dive on Christmas day is too barbaric to even consider. So we were delighted to welcome the Floridians into our home for a slice of our White Christmas!

Dennis and Pam were up North in order to give their children the chance to see snow, and they arrived in Washington D.C. the day after the blizzard of 2009! The winterland Capitol was followed by a snowy NYC, and then the drive to our house. We enjoyed visiting over dinner, and then Jim suggested another winter activity for the sunshine-state kids- sledding! Erin and Isaac helped Holly and Jacob bundle up with real winter gear and they all piled into the vehicles to go to Shillington Park for a very non-Floridian experience. What a treat to give them such a memory for Christmas- God is so good to send such an early and generous snowfall for them to enjoy.

Real snow, a real hill, hooray!

Ready, set, go...

Holly and Isaac were classmates in Sunday School, I watched Jacob in the
nursery at FPC in Florida... How the years have flown.

Now the evening has wandered in and I am writing on the laptop as Julie & Julia plays on the TV. The fire is burning, the lights on the tree are glowing, and the basement is sounding like a ping-pong tournament. I'm going to raid the fridge for leftovers. (And in case you didn't catch it, I'm watching a movie about a lady who blogs as I write this blog post...)

I should've had a bottle of wine ready for this movie.

Merry Christmas!

They've Arrived!

Keil & Delitzsch are here at last! As are Hendriksen and Kistemaker!

Allow me to explain. As I have participated in and facilitated Bible Studies in years past I have often supplemented my own deficient understanding of the Scriptures with the thoughts and scholarship of those far more knowledgeable than myself. I have a few good resources at hand already, but have longed for more in-depth insight. My own mentor, Toni, in Florida, often referred to her commentary on the Old Testament by Keil & Delitzsch. My dear husband knew of my desire to finish filling the bookshelves with such a set, and so he ordered them for my Christmas gift.



A single set on the Old Testament alone seems so unbalanced though, so he also ordered the commentary by Hendriksen and Kistemaker, "the only complete commentary on the New Testament written solely from a Reformed perspective", according to CBD.

"The Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament contain the divine revelations which prepared the way for the redemption of fallen man by Christ. The revelation of God commenced with the creation of the heaven and the earth, when the triune God called into existence a world teeming with organized and living creatures, whose life and movements proclaimed the glory of their Creator; whilst, in the person of man, who was formed in the image of God, they were created to participate in the blessedness of the divine life. But when the human race, having yielded in its progenitors to the temptation of the wicked one, and forsaken the path appointed by its Creator, had fallen a prey to sin and death, and involved the whole terrestrial creation in the effects of its fall; the mercy of God commenced the work of restoration and redemption, which had been planned in the counsel of the triune love before the foundation of the world. Hence, from the very beginning, God not only manifested His eternal power and godhead in the creation, preservation, and government of the world and its inhabitants, but also revealed through His Spirit His purpose and desire for the well-being of man. This manifestation of the personal God upon and in the world assumed, in consequence of the fall, the form of a plan of salvation, rising above the general providence and government of the world, and filling the order of nature with higher powers of spiritual life, in order that the evil, which had entered through sin into the nature of man and passed from man into the whole world, might be overcome and exterminated, the world be transformed into a kingdom of God in which all creatures should follow His holy will, and humanity glorified into the likeness of God by the complete transfiguration of its nature. These manifestations of divine grace, which made the history of the world "a development of humanity into a kingdom of God under the educational and judicial superintendence of the living God," culminated in the incarnation of God in Christ to reconcile the world unto Himself."
- from the General Introduction to the Five Books of Moses, by Keil & Delitzsch.

What beauty of scholarship and expression- I can't wait!

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum...

It is that time of year again! The days are shortening and the temperatures are dropping, but our house will be brightened by Christmas decorations! There was much going on Saturday, December 7th, but we resolved to get a tree before dark, so off we went. In the past two years we had gone to tree farms, but this year we chose to look for our tree at one of the local fire companies. The trees there are still locally grown, therefore pretty much just as fresh, but our money would also be going to support a good cause.

Tree Hugger

Sweet Girls

Our Pickle

This year we chose a Concolor Fir, which has a citrus scent and soft curled needles. It is so much easier to string lights and hang ornaments when one is not being skewered by the tree! This year's tree is smaller than in past years, which had been steadily growing, and growing. Our last tree- a prickly Douglas Fir, was so tightly packed (aka: full) that the ornaments simply laid across the outside instead of hanging from the branches. The ornaments hang beautifully from our tree this year, and it is simply lovely.

The Lighting Crew

So many ornaments bring back memories. I made this when we were still in Germany and didn't have but a handful of ornaments to hang on the tree. That's our sweet Nathaniel, only a few months old...

We made these ornaments only a couple of years ago while in Florida. Glass balls, glitter glue and plastic jewels combine to make lovely ornaments that reflect the lights.

This was purchased a few weeks ago at a local craft show. It's a real egg wrapped with decorative paper.

I think we bought this in Germany at the Stuttgart Weinachtsfest...

And this little guy was bought- or given to us a couple of years ago.

Made in Sunday School by one of the kids... precious.

Nathaniel bought this for me when he was working at the Christian bookstore in Coral Springs. It is painted on the inside, and very detailed too!

Homemade by me in Germany.

And here's another ornament that we made in Florida- painted on the inside, but not quite as detailed as the one Nathaniel gave me!

Our lovely little tree... In the library in the front of the house, situated in front of a window for "the people".

Milo loves "his" tree...

I do love having the tree up early so that we can enjoy it for a few weeks before it's time to take it down. Just add Christmas music playing softly in the background, cookies fresh from the oven, and warm spiced tea and the mood is set.

Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year- a tad late!

I am finally able to sit down with my computer after two weeks of (semi) forced exile. From Christmas Eve to January 4th our phone line, and therefore our internet connection, were going haywire. The repair guy finally diagnosed and fixed the problem- a loose wire out on the pole somewhere. With the crazy winter weather we've been having it's no surprise. But evidently we were the only house affected.

After that was dealt with, Jim set up his home office at my desk, effectively blocking me from the computer! Augh! He is now out of town for work, so I can re-acquaint myself with the computer, internet, and bill-paying,... whoopie!

But that's not the fun news. The fun was happening over Christmas with the kids home from school and cookies baking, church activities, and a video-conference with Nathaniel on Christmas day as we opened presents together! Our connection was just stable enough for the video connection to Hawaii as he opened the crock-pot and cookbook we sent him. Now he can cook some of his meals in his apartment- they have a refrigerator but no oven.

Jim was able, during his week of vacation, to finish the beautiful new tabletop for in the dining room. Now we can comfortably seat 8 to 10 people around one table! What a treat!

For New Year's Eve we had some friends come over for an extended meal and fellowship to welcome 2008. Kate had brought a small bottle of French champagne home from Europe which we popped open as the ball dropped on TV.

Here's a brief slide show. As usual, pass your mouse over the individual photos to see the captions!

Have a blessed 2008!

And the Time Flew...

(Please note that I published 4 posts today, so scroll down to see the rest!)

The rest of our time with Nathaniel was a bit more calm and sane, yet also short. He and Jim were able to indulge in the traditional Pennsylvania pastime and go hunting with our friend Ed Wisniewski and his son Edward. While they came home empty-handed, (as Jim tells it, they "took the guns for a walk...") they still had a bunch of "manly" fun.

Isaac's teacher invited Nathaniel to come speak to her class. He did this last year, so was prepared with a slide show of photos from Iraq as well as a Google Earth presentation of where in the world he's been with the Army. The trip over the top of the globe from Iraq to Hawaii was particularly impressive...

Christmas tree time! We hauled ourselves out in the cold to pick a couple of trees to put up for the holiday and were very pleased with the available selection. Bekah chose the big tree this year as I found our smaller tree.

Since our main tree is in a back room of the house we decided to put up a smaller tree in one of the front windows "for the people". I enjoy seeing Christmas trees lit in houses as we drive by in December and wanted to have one visible here as well. Our little tree is perfect for the lighter ornaments and frees up space on the larger tree so it's not as crowded. And it's so cute too!

Kate brought home an ornament she bought for the family while in Germany. She also has a suitcase full of gifts that she has been excitedly alluding to for a couple of months now and is wrapping them as I type!

Milo has had the funniest reaction to the Christmas trees. Having been an outdoor cat most of his life, this is his first year indoors for Christmas. He looked at us like we'd gone mad when we brought the trees in. Then, as he investigated further and watched us decorating the trees he decided that they must be for him, and is now delighted with his trees covered in toys! He now spends most of each day underneath the trees napping, taking an occasional waking period to bat at the ornaments within his reach. Silly boy...

As we decorated the trees Bekah got a fire going in the fireplace and Isaac brought out the S'mores fixin's!

All set for the holiday. Merry December everyone!