Seasonal Celebrations

02 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment

Christmas, my favorite time of year, has come and gone. I don’t usually have many Christmas-related obligations to attend but I do enjoy a good party with family, friends, lots of food and Christmas goodies! I look forward to a Christmas Eve candlelight church service and reflecting on the birth of our Savior, Jesus. I love the music, twinkling lights, and choosing gifts for those I love. I thought I would write about some of the ways I celebrated Christmas this year:

In recent years I have felt convicted about my focus, or lack thereof, on why we celebrate Christmas. Not that I didn’t focus at all on Jesus but there were so many other things taking my attention that when Christmas was finally over, I had a feeling that I missed something, I felt let down. This year, amid all the lights and gifts, my family went through the Jesse Tree Advent devotional, or as Andy calls them, collosians, every evening. Each story points towards the promise that God gave in the Garden of Eden to send us a Savior and each night gets us closer to the coming of the King. I made a conscious decision to have no expectations because with our schedules we would surely miss a night or two and with an active 3-year-old and a surly preteen our devotional time may not be all that peaceful. We had to make up a couple of nights and I had to read through noise but I pray that we all found peace in the promise of Jesus. I know I am and I hope that it leads to a richer Christmas experience that lasts all year.

Chris and I have taken Keith up on his offer to watch the boys every so often and recently went downtown St. Paul to stroll through Rice Park. The park is decked out in Christmas lights including a very large evergreen tree. It’s stunning and festive and I was hoping to have a hot beverage in my hand to ward off the cold but the local coffee shops had already closed for the night. Oh well. We didn’t stay long because we weren’t dressed warm enough but we did have some great discussions including one about church which finally led us to discover what will probably become our church home after wandering in church wilderness for the last five years. That’s for another post though.

A couple of months ago, through blogland, I read about a new concert called The Story. It is a multi-media presentation of the characters of the Bible through song and video. It sold out here in the Twin Cities and I wasn’t sure we had money to spend on going anyway. Meanwhile, my sister-in-law’s mother was given two tickets and when I expressed my (righteous) jealousy she gave me her ticket because as it turns out, she didn’t really want to go. I took my niece Jamie, who was already planning on going, and we had a good time. The concert was even more fabulous and soul-stirring and even better than I had expected.

Another concert I attended was my own son’s first band concert. He plays the trombone. I should say he just blows into the mouth piece and moves the slide because he doesn’t like to practice to learn actual songs. Apparently he had a solo note and I listened hard but I missed it. Regardless, I was pretty proud of him even though I couldn’t see him play. I caught a glimpse of him on the way back to his seat after his portion of the concert. The band sounded fairly decent for a bunch of sixth graders of whom the majority have been playing their instrument for only few months.

Christmas Eve we went to our new church for a beautiful service. Christmas day we went to my parents church and then to Matt and Amy’s after the service for lunch and opening gifts. I brought my camera but only took a few photos. We were crowded and it was fun just to sit and watch all the kids open their presents. All in all, it was a peaceful, relaxing, joy-filled weekend.

During the week Chris’s parents came to visit and we celebrated with them. I even made the whole Christmas turkey dinner. “Whoa” is all I can say. Oh, and yum! It was a lot of work but I loved serving them and my guys in that way. We had a fun and busy few days with them.

The weekend after Christmas we usually have my mom’s family Christmas. All her siblings and families come from across the country to celebrate and it is quite chaotic but fun. This year, no one was able to come for various reasons. So we spent time with the small group in town. We ate Korean food and made lefse and had a great, if not quiet, time with each other celebrating the New Year. I missed my Aunts Denean and Dori, my Uncle Dan and all their families very much. It wasn’t the same without them.

So another year is over and a new one begins. Praise God for new beginnings. I have a few hopes and goals for this year, 2012, and I am looking forward to a year of new.