A three-nearly-four year old little boy has been patiently waiting to open his gifts (as you can only imagine!). That's why I use A LOT of tape when I wrap Krista and Michael's presents (you'd have to be Houdini to even find a non taped seam on those packages!). It's for the just-in-case moments if I'm not there when Michael decides it's Christmas Day! Plus, I find it highly amusing to watch Krista try to figure out how she's going to open my excessively taped packages!
For the past couple of days, Michael has been busy creating Christmas cards with non-Christmas themes. He loves to draw rainbows (they're actually pretty amazing!), pears (he loves Asian pears!), the coffee buns from TuttiFrutti (they're pretty good replicas of them, too!), himself or our family (think round heads with over-sized eyes on smiley faces and long lines for legs and arms...very alien-esque!) and the word L-O-V-E written somewhere randomly! After his drawings, he picks a crayon for me to use so I can label his drawings for the recipient. Then he picks the recipient and figures out how to get his Christmas card on the package without messing up the bow! He still occasionally draws with his "scribble scrabble" style (swirls of crayons going crazy on a piece of paper!), but he's finally beginning to draw specific things now that he's getting older. Getting indescribable artwork is another reason why I love being a mommy!
Yesterday was our annual Women's Ministry Christmas Tea at Living Oaks. It's an AMAZING production put on by Karen Bruni. Jacob had to study for his midterm, so I brought Michael along with Krista and I. I wish you could have seen all the tables! Andrea Gillingham was our table hostess and made the table so beautiful with her artistic flair and lovely China settings. Michael sat in my lap as our butlers (Frank Gillingham, Todd Yamasaki and Michael Sutter gave us the best service!) brought out the food. Michael wasn't interested in the sandwiches because he was waiting for dessert...particularly, my mini gingerbread cupcakes with the cream cheese frosting swirls sprinkled with crushed candy cane. That morning, he was my taste tester and happily ate three in one sitting (they didn't have the frosting on yet) for quality control purposes, of course. He had watched me decorate them once I brought them to church and wanted to have one then because in his words, "I didn't have one with the frosting and candy canes yet! Can I taste one to see if I like it? I like cream cheese with the sugar!" Who doesn't?!?
Last night, I turned off all the lights except for the Christmas tree lights. Ahhhhh. It was a wonderful day being with the kids and our friends. As we celebrate this holy season, let's remember to look around us and take time to savor the moment in the midst of all the parties, shopping, decorating, baking and planning. Let's celebrate Jesus and look at the world around us through His eyes. What do you see? Do you see the person that's hurting because they're lonely even though they're surrounded by people? Or because they lost a loved one and having to celebrate Christmas without their loved one is reminding them of their loss yet again? Or maybe their hurt is because they're unemployed and are worried how they're going to give their kids a Christmas to remember. They may have just received news of terminal illness in their family or even been diagnosed themself. Christmas is a joyous occasion for so many of us, but yet, for some others, it's one steeped in pain, loneliness and hurt.
The question is...what can we do to reach out to those around us? In the Amplified Bible, Philippians 2:4 reads: "Let each of you esteem and look upon and be concerned for not [merely] his own interests, but also each for the interests of others." Do you notice how it doesn't have a clause saying, "If you're not too busy with Christmas shopping, activities, etc. then..." before the verse?!?
Hmmmmmm....so, what are YOU going to do about it?
