Christmas musings

This may be the only blog I get to this month since my children will be arriving in exactly one week and then I will be all theirs until they leave! I'm sure I'll have lots to blog about when they leave and hopefully some family pictures. This season is so different overseas than in the US. Although I sometimes wish I could stroll in a mall all decorated with Santa, lights & Christmas music, I do rather enjoy the calmness of our Christmas here; hardly a decoration to be found and the scrawny trees & Santas hardly remind me of the "season to be jolly"! We put our tree up early this year and I love the lights & gifts under the tree, candles burning and music playing. But the focus is so much more on Jesus and the real reason we celebrate this holiday. We are putting on a performance of the Christmas story at our church this Saturday and it promises to be a great event. Many who come will never once have heard the story. Even I, after having heard it maybe hundreds of times, actually cried when I read the play script the first time. It is an amazing story that we never tire of. Our week is packed full of activity: girls' Christmas party tonight at one of our teammates' houses, team Christmas party tomorrow with a few extras invited, our Christmas program at church on Saturday, baking & cooking & freezing for the arrival of my kids next week and then celebrating twice as my older son arrives the 29th. What a wonderful time of year! I read a blog this morning from a friend suffering with cancer. His attitude and character is so God-honoring. He admonishes us to enjoy and love our families as never before because we never know how long we'll have with them. They are truly God's most wonderful gift to us after Jesus! I pray that we will all remember this as we gather with loved ones this Christmas season. The other night at our prayer meeting, we sang just about every Christmas Carol in the book. Before we chose a song, we had to tell why we liked it. I really love all the carols and the concept of Immanuel is so special; to think that God left heaven and became a man so that he could be with us on this earth and show us how to live, is just mind-boggling. If only we could explain this very complex truth to our friends here. Only the Holy Spirit can open their eyes and help them to understand! Have a wonderful Christmas and a joyous time of celebrating the greatest gift of all time: JESUS.