Christmas Traditions

I, for one, am a fan of Christmas. The primary religious holidays help us concentrate our attention helpfully on the storyline of the gospel: God's gift of his Son for our salvation (Christmas), his death for our sins (Good Friday), and his resurrection (Easter).

Trying to scrub these holidays clean of any religious significance contradicts their original intent and also leaves them gaudy and goofy and trite. But on the other hand, the family aspects of these holidays, especially as we find our deepest bond in God's grace to us, is an antidote to other aspects of secular life... our busy-ness, failure to make meaningful time with one another, etc.

All that being said, here are some Christmas pictures. We celebrated on Christmas Eve because of our travel plans. (Speaking of which, we may not be able to post again until the new year -- we'll be visiting family and friends in St. Louis!)

Our tradition is that the men make breakfast:



I helped with the bacon, but Cullen did pretty well with the waffle iron. Mom was pleased, if only to know that Cullen really does appreciate all that she does for him:



We opened presents, grateful for gifts that arrived by mail or were given by friends at the church!



We were also glad for all the cards and pictures that have arrived.... I'm a big fan of friends.



And of course, one of our most important traditions is to laugh out loud at least once on Christmas morning. Thanks to Scoche's gift to Smarty, this goal was accomplished! (Kinda fits Lucy's Christmas card, Anne!)