A Peaceful Christmas

I am grateful for a peaceful Christmas.



For precious time spent with my dear family.



For the delicious aroma of our beautiful live tree (our first in over a decade).




For wonderful memories of these last days at home.





For the food, warmth, and shelter that our Savior did not have at His nativity.



For the joys of the changing seasons -- even though our seasons don't change quite as drastically in this tropical climate!



For thoughtful and generous gifts from loved ones.



For Christmas dinner in all of its delicious splendor.



For humor and love and laughter. And just in case you're wondering about this one, "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" has been our theme song this Christmas...




I am grateful for a peaceful Christmas -- for the peace that only comes through the Savior whose birth we celebrate. But as we celebrate His birth, we must also celebrate His death and resurrection. It was His sacrifice and His triumph over death that gave us hope and peace. And that is truly something to be grateful for!



"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not... He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."

~ John 1:1-5, 10-14 ~