The Gift of a Candlelight Ceremony

Another blessed day!  Fabulous breakfast... frittata, crepes, orange bowknots.  All things I rarely (or never) make.  Lots more good visiting and great coffee (always a necessity).

And we went to the Christmas Eve candlelight service.  I almost had myself talked into not going... Jason worked, so it was me responsible for making sure they were clean and presentable.  The kids would have rather played.  I would have rather curled up on the couch or caught up on laundry.  The candle wax burns me every year...   you know, valid reasons.

But we went just the same.  I got out the rest of our cards in the church "mailboxes", picked up ours and let the kids play Legos in the pew (yes, I am that mom), nudging them to listen at the good parts and making them sing with everyone. 

I am so glad we went.  One of my favorite elders spoke about the significance of Christmas.  We get so distracted by the "feel good" stuff of the holidays... like the Lifetime movies and the sappy, "holiday" moments, that even those of us who celebrate Christmas purely because of the birth of Christ get sidetracked by the other "good" stuff.  He urged us to push all that aside for a moment, if only to reflect on the real reason for it all. 

It is impossible to fathom the love the Father has for us to be willing to give us the gift of His Son.  Who, as a parent, could imagine giving your child to anyone, knowing that they would be put to death on a cross?  Not I!!  Never!  Yet, that is what the significance of Christmas is all about.  Knowing that God loves us that much.  So much that He gave the gift of His Son.  An insignificant event then... a birth of a poor child in a stable, became one of the most significant events in the history of the world.  Who would have thought?

I am thankful that I went.  And yes, Leilee, Grady and I were burned with candlewax.  And Leilee ate my communion bread.  But I was given even more perspective tonight. Beyond even my gift of family.  The gift of a candlelight ceremony to remind me of the most significant part of Christmas... the gift of Christ. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Despicable Shadow Puppets

Image
We watched Despicable Me today.  At the end, when they do the shadow puppets I had an idea.  I remember when I was little that my mom went through this silhouette phase in her artwork and made us kids pose for silhouettes.  I didn't like my own silhouette, even as a child. I also remember loving to do shadow puppets, and the very few times my mom would get out the old projector to show us slides, we would ask to have time with just the light on the sheet so we could play shadow puppets.  So my brilliant idea today, since we use a projector to watch movies instead of having a big, expensive TV taking up space, was to pause on a good spot and let the kids pose.  Here is what we came up with.  Not without a little begging and pleading on my end!  Two bunnies hopping towards a duck   Two ducks quacking at a bunny   Butterfly   Guy with mohawk   First shadow puppet ever...not sure what she is going fo...
Read more

Peanut Butter and Bananas

Growing up, my favorite sandwich in the world (when it came to peanut butter at least), was a peanut butter and brown sugar sandwich.  Crunchy peanut butter made it better.  My best friend's favorite sandwich was peanut butter, banana, and honey. "Gross!" I said. "Gross!" she said.  We both agreed that we wouldn't know until we tried it.  So, one day in her kitchen, we made our favorite sandwiches.  She sliced her bananas as I wrinkled up my nose.  I sprinkled brown sugar as she looked nervously at me from the corner of her eye.  We presented one another with our beloved sandwiches.  We had to try.  To understand one another a little better.  Just one bite... That's all it took.  And we switched right back.  She finished hers, and I finished mine.  Right now, I am sitting on the couch eating a frozen banana with peanut butter drizzled on top.  It is amazing.  Who would have thought that over twent...
Read more

Real Bread. The Second Half.

Image
For the first half of this story, check out this post .  I am following my version of a multigrain bread recipe from Mother Earth News . Whew.  This was way harder than throwing stuff in the bread machine.  So we ended last time with the soakers soaking and the sponges hanging out in the fridge. I took step by step pictures so that I could write less  provide a better visual guideline.  Well, almost step by step.  I couldn't some of the time because my hands were all gooey or had oven mitts or flour on them.  You understand... So, first I took out the sponges and let them get to room temperature.  I matched up my gooier (is that a word?) first sponge with the thicker looking buttermilk soaker.  It took longer than an hour, and I got sidetracked doing other things.  By the time I got around to making bread... they were good and ready. Then, I got everything else I needed out.  Mainly yeast, butter, flour, honey, ...
Read more