Christmas love to you all!
It has been a very busy couple of days here, filled with visiting family and friends, eating, laughing, gift giving and tonnes of fun!
Highlights:
: : Hearing one of my children say that their favourite part of Christmas was seeing relatives
: : Our morning Christmas day church service - loved it!
: : The fact that while in some parts of the world it is winter (and even snowing), both of our different family Christmas celebrations included water fights. Only in New Zealand!
Christmas day was spent with my side of the family...
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| Christmas day lunch at my Aunty & Uncles house |
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| Water gun shenanigans |
And Boxing Day was spent with Symon's side...
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| Annual Drake sibling Christmas photo |
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| Yup - they're officially crazy |
I love Christmas time!
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I realise that for some people Christmas can be a difficult time, whether it reminds them of their loneliness or difficult living situations. If so, may you be encouraged by this (via Word for Today)...
For many people Christmas is a sad time. Author Jon Walker writes: 'I'm sitting in a fast food restaurant observing a young girl celebrating an early Christmas with her mother. Her presents are spread out across the booth and she just said, I miss you, Mommy. I miss you too, baby, her mother says. Beyond the booth...a woman casually but carefully watches them. Using my journalist's eye, I put it all together. The watching woman is a social worker supervising a structured visit for a mother and child who are doing their best to celebrate Christmas...a few minutes later foster parents arrive and take the little girl home. The mother leaves alone. There's a darker side to Christmas we rarely acknowledge. We create this fantasy that seldom matches reality, even in the best of homes...many Christmas memories are full of tension, not tinsel...the holidays are just another excuse for Mummy to get drunk, or Daddy to be with his new family...yet another reminder that the one we love is far away or perhaps never coming back...The suicide rate is extraordinarily high in December, depression as common as Joy to the World, more people hurt at Christmas than we initially imagine. For those tired of the hollow hope and false fantasies of Christmas, the good news is, God is with us.' Jesus came to earth to 'bring...good news...for all the people', and regardless of your situation Christmas is the best gift you'll ever get, because: (1) It's the costliest you'll ever receive because it cost Jesus His life. (2) It's the only gift that lasts forever. (3) It's one you can enjoy for the rest of your life.
p.s. Tomorrow I start eating healthy again and aiming to run a mile a day - anyone keen to join me?
2 comments
Love the word for the day from Rhema!
ReplyDeleteI need to join the healthy eating plan. Are you going to post about your weight loss? I can't run though and we just got about six inches of snow! Had a friend and her two daughters over on Christmas Eve because her husband decided to leave them for another woman, who also has a family. God is the best gift!
ReplyDeleteCindy Bee
Thanks for your comments... I love hearing from you!!!