Christmas Day

We all gathered in my parents living room around

9am to open gifts. This would be after my parents

were awakened by two barking dogs at 6am AND

after Joey locked his keys in his car when he

went to pick up Chrissie. MEMORIES! ;)

Us siblings decided not to buy each other gifts this

year, instead we would take all of our "Christmas fund"

and bless mom and dad. This made for some fun times

shopping and wrapping. We also wrote a clue on the outside

of each of their gifts. I think it will be a new tradition!

For example, we had got mom a pair of Wallabee shoes -

the clue was "Some people call me Joey." It took her a little

while to figure it out, but she finally guessed it. :)

It was a lot of fun!

Tony was really SURPRISED to recieve the

"Witherspoon School of Law" DVD series from my parents!

He has been talking about this for a few months now and

there were a few occasions where he was going to buy it.

Knowing that my parents had already bought it for him,

I would tell him "Oh, maybe we should wait 'til after the New

Year, they'll probably be running some really good sales."

He was really, really surprised!!

Matthew was excited to recieve a box of Electrasol

tablets. My parents are really good at wrapping

things in "wrong" boxes. Haha. He actually got

a clamp that allows him to play his guitar

and harmonica at the same time. Something

he had been wanting to get. :)

We received our very own Waffle Maker!!

Mom & Dad were real happy to recieve updated pictures

of the four of us. It even brought mom to tears

[mission accomplished!]. ;)

That is the blanket that I started way back here.
It matches their bedroom perfectly. :)


Dad pulled the finale gift from behind the tree. It
was a little piece of paper with a picture of
Savannah, GA and Paula Deen. He handed it to
mom and she had to guess what it was.
They will be staying at a Bed & Breakfast in Savannah,
and visit Paula Deen's restaurant while they're there.
Mom was very surprised and this also brought her
to tears. :) Awwww! Very neat gift Dad!!!


Here is the whole crew!

*Sisters*

Dad & I


Us girls!!


With dad!
*************************************************************
After a short visit back at our house, we headed to
Tony's parents house for lunch.

Time to open gifts!

Cayleigh showing me her NC State scarf
that Nanny made for her. :)


Corrine, Cayleigh, Marshall, and Mary Grace
showing me thier neat digital cameras and nerf gun.
They were so cute running around, wanting to take a
picture of everything. The below picture is one such example.
Marshall had shot his nerf gun and the "bullet" landed
standing straight up. "AMAZING!" Marshall got real
excited and said "Wait, wait. I have to get a picture of it."
It was really funny!!! So then all of them gather around with
their cameras and started snapping pictures.


****************************************************
We went back to our house for a couple hours. Tony
started watching "Witherspoons School of Law" and took
a short nap, while I started working on a purple scarf for Chrissie.
Then we went back to my parents house for dinner [lasagna] and
a game of Scrabble. Below is Kismet, Mia, and Pedro after an
exhausting day of chasing wrapping paper and such. ;)

Christmas Eve

A day off work for Tony - which meant sleeping in until 11am and staying up late the night before practicing his guitar, listening to sermons, reading articles and a new book. He has been so busy lately and is very much enjoying this two week break from school (I am too!). That afternoon we went to visit Ms. Bessie who stays at an assisted living facility. She was so excited to see us and was such an encouragement to us. We read thru the advent reading and sang "Who is This?" - an older hymn that none of us knew. Haha. It was a sweet time of fellowship.

My family came over that evening. :) We had veggie soup and sandwiches with chips and fresh salsa. Then we each opened one gift - tradition. Tony & I received a popcorn maker! Then we watched the planetarium show, "A Created Cosmos" by Answers in Genesis. That was the second time I'd seen it and it just leaves me in total awe of my Creator! Matthew & I made some very sweet butter rum drinks and we all played a [lengthy] game of Scrabble. ;)

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God

An amazing fact from Jason Lisle's book Taking Back Astronomy - "At the incredible distance of 93 million miles, we cannot fully appreciate just how far away the sun is. An analogy may be helpful. How long would it take to drive 93 million miles? If we were to drive 65 miles per hour, it would take 163 years to drive this distance. We couldn't drive this far in our lifetime."

It is the seventeenth of December already ... only eight more days until Christmas. And it is hard to believe how quickly this month has passed by. Or even this year. Busy. Busy. is what we've been as of late. A ~fun~ busy though. First thing Saturday morning I made a big mess in the kitchen - producing 11 cups of cranberry jam and some fresh 'cranberry orange apple juice' for my sweet husband and I.

While Tony worked on an essay for his Western Civ class, I put up our Christmas tree. I am in the process of making some "Jesse Tree" ornaments.

That evening, we were able to spend special time together in town - celebrating 71 months of togetherness. :) We discovered that our local park was having a little Christmas event, so we walked around the park for a while and passed out some gospel tracts. Then we enjoyed a yummy pizza at Illiano's. I am so grateful to God for my husband!!

After church on Sunday, we went to Madison & Morgan's birthday party - they were celebrating ONE year of life. :) Tony & I bought them "Horton Hears a Who" the movie and stuffed twin elephants. Cute!


***********************************************************************

Yesterday the four of us got together to do some gift shopping and to take pictures. :) Here is just one of them. When Brittany & I were picking out poses, the boys kept saying - "Come on - we're not the brady bunch." Haha. Unfortunately, Joey missed out on the shopping because he wasn't feeling too good. When he got home he discovered that he had a temparture of 102. :( But I talked to him today and he says he feels much better. Praise God!

**********************************************************************

"In The First Light"

In the first light of a new day no one knew he had arrived
Things continued as they had been while a newborn softly cried
But the heavens wrapped in wonder knew the meaning of his birth
In the weakness of a baby they knew God had come to earth

As his mother held him closely it was hard to understand
That her baby, not yet speaking, was the word of God to man
He would tell them of his kingdom but their hearts would not believe
They would hate him and in anger they would nail him to a tree

But the sadness would be broken as the song of life arose
And the firstborn of creation would ascend and take his throne
He had left it to redeem us but before his life began
He knew he’d come back, not as a baby, but as the Lord of every man

Hear the angels as they’re singing on the morning of his birth
But how much greater will their song be when he comes again to earth
Hear the angels as they’re singing on the morning of his birth
But how much greater will their song be when he comes to rule the earth!

Chrismas Events

This past weekend we joined some dear brothers & sisters in Christ to proclaim the gospel in Virginia. Saturday morning we went to the Richmond Christmas parade and that evening we went to the VA Beach parade (with a great time of fellowship in between!). The weather actually ended up being warmer than expected - so that was a nice surprise! :) On Sunday we went to church with Nathan & Mary, then that we joined about 20 others at the Grand Illumination Ceremony in Williamsburg.

Rethinking Christmas

Over the past couple years, my eyes have really been opened to the "god of consumerism" being celebrated and worshipped during the Christmas season. So when I came across the following video last night, my heart agreed and rejoiced with the concept!

[Worship Fully]

[Spend Less]

[Give More]

[Love All]

Sounds great, huh? But we couldn't help but notice one major thing that seems to be missing in this movement - the gospel. If you do this without the gospel being central, then it will just turn into another humanitarian effort to solve the worlds problem. By the way, the worlds biggest problem is not a lack of clean water. It is their sin, and no amount of clean water will wash that away - only the living water of Jesus Christ. As Christians, we must proclaim the gospel. We cannot leave it out. So I am all for the concept of this video and praise God for this movement!! It is great to meet the physical needs of those less fortunate, but it is treachery to not tell them the remedy for their spiritual need. So along with the gift of clean water, let us give them Living Water! Distribute Bibles, tracts, and gospel-enriched materials this holiday season. May the gifts you give be meaningful and a reminder of God's grace to the receivers.

I called Tony around lunch today just to say hello. I mentioned to him "I'm about to make some bread and then clean the kitchen." He said, "Oh, you're going to make homemade noodles?" That would be his way of asking. ;) Haha!! I have never made pasta before, with the exception of potato gnocchis. I recalled the cookbook that Tony's mom gave me with the recipe for Great Grandma Smith's Homemade Noodles. The recipe looked easy enough, so I decided to give it a try. Result? In the words of Tony: Good!! (And a big smile)! I enjoy so much to please my husband!!

Celebrating Advent

In an effort to be more Christ-centered this Christmas season, we will begin reading through this Advent Devotional tonight.

*********************************
The pastors and staff of Park Cities Presbyterian Church have written and designed this collection of devotions for each day of Advent, December 1-24, plus a special devotion for Christmas Day as a gift to assist your preparations for the celebration of the arrival of the Infant Savior.

We hope the title of this series, “From Bethlehem to Golgotha,” will prompt your worship of this Infant who was “born in a zoo and killed on a slaughterhouse cross so that we could inherit paradise, and all on His back.”

As you see the lights on your Christmas tree and in your neighborhoods push back the darkness, consider Jesus Christ, not just as the Infant of Bethlehem, but as “a Jewish Savior, killed in humiliation but raised in glory.” The brightest of Lights came to bear the darkest night of the soul. The Light of lights came into this lost world so that those of us hiding in darkness might find ourselves hidden in Him.

The Light will return again one day in His full and radiant brilliance. Celebrate His first Advent, look forward to His second. Use these devotionals to rejoice in the Gift of gifts, the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings. Sing or pray to the Lord the hymns that are suggested on each page from the Trinity Hymnal. May your Christmas be bright with the light of His presence!

Your PCPC pastors and staff (All Scriptures are from the English Standard Version.)

Click here to view the daily devotionals.

Glimpse of Thanksgiving