Merry Christmas . . .

I love Christmas. Not so much for all the stuff that goes along with it . . . the parties, the gifts, the food. I do love to visit with family and friends that I don't get to see often enough. But it's not even that. I love that every Christmas everything seems to change. It just feels different after Christmas. I always want to be different and better than I had been the year before. We usually have new stuff to organize in our house, especially since we've had kids. And after the tree gets taken down, we usually take the opportunity to change the furniture around. Everything just changes.

Everything changed on the very first Christmas. I mean one day the world was still awaiting the Messiah, and the next day he had arrived. Some people made plans to come see Him, some plotted to kill him. It was just different. It was crazy different for Mary and Joseph. I can remember back to the first days when we brought our baby boys home from the hospital. Our life changed so much then. I can't even imagine how drastic of a life change it felt to Mr. & Mrs. Joseph. They had become parents and protectors of the Savior. Life was going to be different for every person from then on who heard the news of Jesus' birth and believed what Mary already knew about Him.

So that's why I love Christmas. Everything has a chance to change and feel different. I look forward to that. I know so many of you are going through changes this season . . . new jobs, new locations, awaiting children, waiting to hear word on schools, waiting for what's next . . . I pray despite changing circumstances, our hearts continue to draw near to God. Especially this holiday when we celebrate the arrival of the very Way God made it possible to know Him.

Merry Christmas.

Heart Swell . . .

I had one of those Mommy heart swell moments today . . . my boys and I went to a "Birthday Party for Jesus," which mainly consisted on some moms and kids from our church having a little cake, rubbing balloons on their heads, and other merriment. Before we had the cake, one mom asked Aidan if he could tell everyone about the Christmas story. What was so funny in this moment was that Aidan was wearing a pair of swimmer's goggles he found, and was completely caught off guard by the invitation. What made my heart swell was his response . . .

"Well, two shepherds were out flocking their sheep. They saw a very bright star in the sky, which actually turned out to be an angel. That angel told them that Jesus was gonna be born. There was a man and a woman named Joseph and Mary. They were gonna have Jesus. Mary gave birth to Jesus in a manger. After that, God had a Son. . ."

He told this without removing the goggles.

It made my heart swell to hear him tell this story without any reminders or nudgings from mom. I dunno. It makes my heart swell to hear my little boy talk about God. I think he gets Christmas, my Aidan. He doesn't care what he "gets." He doesn't believe in Santa, even though I told him we could at least pretend he's coming . . . no dice, Mom. He tells everyone that if you turn a candy cane upside down that it's "J" for Jesus, and "that's what Christmas is all about."

It just makes a mom's heart swell with joy.