Rev. Dwain Galiher, our pastor at the Junction Hill Pentecostal Church, expressed it so well in our Christmas Eve service yesterday. This isn't exactly how he said it, but the jest of it...
The angel Gabriel said to Mary "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." It boggles the mind that the Holy Ghost could somehow "reduce" the greatness of the Son of God to the size of an human embryo and place him in a young Jewish virgin's womb. That moment of conception was when "The God of Heaven" became our "Emmanuel"
And THAT is what makes Christmas Wonderful!
Family traditions also make this time of the year special.
After our daughter, Tabitha, was born, we began a tradition with my Mom, Helen Riggs. We would spend the night with her on Christmas Eve. Tami and I would sleep in the queen size bed, and Tab and Mom would sleep in the full size bed in the "spare" room. Mom would get up on Christmas morning and fix a light breakfast and then later in the day, the rest of the Riggs' would arrive to open gifts, eat and celebrate. I really believe it was the highlight of Mom's Christmas season.
Mom passed away in 2006 and we had to discontinue the tradition... until last year.
Our grandson, Lucas Rey Miller, was born on December 23rd, 2014. If I remember correctly, the Christmas right after his first birthday, the Miller's didn't get to stay the night of Christmas Eve. But the tradition began again last year and continued last night.
We celebrated our Christmas yesterday with a meal and then opened our gifts. We played with Lucas, took naps, ate again, played some more and then around 11 o'clock, went to bed.
Please note that I said we went to bed. That statement does not necessarily equate to "We went to sleep!"
Lucas wasn't quite ready for that!
We played puzzles on my tablet and he watched "EIEIO" until I finally had to put the tablet up. When we turned out the lights, there was an immediate reaction. "Dark!" "Dark!" So.... we turned a lamp back on. This continued for a while with no sign of the "Sandman" showing up.
We finally turned out the lamp and I turned the "Sudoku" game on on my phone, which has a bright light and stays on. This seemed to satisfy Lucas, but still, no sleep.
I finally dimmed the screen on my phone and just started patting his back. It wasn't too long before I could hear his even breathing and his eyes were closed!
And so, we slept through the night. It was a little crowded in our queen size bed with the King and Queen and the little Jester, but I did manage a few hours of sleep!
As of right now, (7:51 AM) Lucas is still asleep and the tradition continues!
Merry Christmas from BigSurveyor and his family to the Blogdom Universe!
(Here a few pictures of our Christmas. And yes, we had homemade pizza for Christmas lunch!!)
