Working on My One Thousand Gifts

I hope that you and yours enjoyed a blessed CHRISTmas thus far. The joy on our kids' faces in the above photo convey the joy we experienced as a family on Christmas Day. But before the present-opening began, we gathered around the kitchen table, the Christ Candle lit in the center of the four flickering Advent candles, as we read Scripture and prayed together from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer on this most Holy Morning. Yes, gifts are enjoyable and foods are delicious, but the Gift of Christ is eternal.

Colossians 3:1-2: If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Thus I continue to list more of my One Thousand Gifts on this Multitude Monday, hosted by Ann at Holy Experience (which is my very favourite blog in all the blogosphere!):

21.Elizabeth's generous Christmas gift to the boys of a (refurbished) X-Box 360, the funds earned by very hard work at her housekeeping job at the nearby Bible camp...

22. The joy in my children's eyes on Christmas morning as they watched each other open gifts they had worked so hard to purchase...

23.My husband's gift to me of UGG-style boots that keep my feet toasty warm in a cold house...

24.Spending Christmas Eve with Keith's family: his sister, his brother's wife and five children, his sister-in-law's family out here from Michigan, and especially his increasingly-fragile father...

25.Watching our children play with cousins on both sides of the family and truly enjoy their company...

26. Spending Christmas Morning quietly with our immediate family...

27. Spending Christmas Day with my extended family: my parents, aunt and uncles, brother and his children, plus our family...

28.Worshiping Christ the King as a family on Christmas morning before opening presents...

29.Having everyone healthy and well for celebrating Christmas -- not always the case in the past...

30. My husband's love for me, especially when I don't deserve it....





Wishing you a joyous Fourth Day of Christmas and a blessed Remembrance of the Holy Innocents, both those killed at Herod's command two thousand years ago and those who have not been given the opportunity of life outside their mothers' wombs. Joy and sorrow woven together -- the very essence of life in our fallen (yet Redeemed!) world....