December 27- looking back

 

Now that the packages have been unwrapped and the paper gathered in the recycle bins, we find a moment to look back at the whirl of December.

Time out for a Carolina bowl game, cozy Christmas blanket style

Puzzling through hundreds of pieces anticipating Christmas day

Enjoying lounging so much that we decided to travel to our family's homes decked out in our Chistmas jammies. As we all live fairly close to one another, we never experience eating breakfast together or lounging around, so we decided to remedy that.

Stealing a moment together

Sharing the light

Will's first communion

Celebrating Christmas Eve with my soul sisters

Enjoying Jane's Christmas Eve lasagne

Posing for some family photos

 

 

Christmas morning breakfast

Enjoying the delicious meal mom made...with a broken arm

Will is enjoying the break building his Legos and playing with his friends

Brennan stays connected to his buds through Skype and FaceTime (less driving for me).

Laurel edits her science project and Natalia hits the sales.

 

 

 

The Promise

This year we tried something different with the choreography of the Singing Christmas Tree. We still had traditional dancing angels and magi and shepherds, but my favorite piece was entitled "The Promise". This song lamented the four hundred years of silence following the promise of a savior. It spoke of longing for things to be better. While the Israelites were still in bondage, while their circumstances hadn't yet changed, they carried within them the promise of hope.

 

 

Joy in the midst of darkness

 

 

Immanuel, our God is with us

 

Hope, in the midst of waiting

 

 

 

 

My husband's not-so-joyful holiday surprise. Suitcase stolen from rental car during work travels.

The reality of this world's brokenness in the midst of holiday glitter and lights.

 

From Ann Voskamp's The Greatest Gift Advent devotional

 

December 2014

School concerts, school parties, shadowing high schools

Watching a show together on Sunday nights

Celebrating Advent together with Ann Voskamp's devotionals

Teacher gifts

 

Holiday baking

Holiday antibiotics for walking pneumonia

Rightnow media - sick day Sunday School

Nutcrackers and Gingerbread houses

Lots of Singing Christmas Tree rehearsals

Cherished unplugged evening at home

Carols on the piano

Tree-trimming

Tree-selecting