Our merry Christmas





 As a twist of fate would have it (Paul and I are voting for God's hand in it, perhaps a Christmas miracle?!) we found ourselves on duty at Gateway with no residents (for a few hours).

This has only happened one other time (for 2 hours!) in the nearly 5 years we have lived here.


So, yeah, it felt kinda special.

So we lived it up, like

leaving a knife out on the counter

and not recording how much everyone ate for a meal

and walking out the house and leaving no one in charge inside

and taking a nap in the living room.


We took a winter walk in the woods with the 3 kiddos, played a board game (Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!), took naps by the fire, ate a turkey dinner with fancy sparkling grape juice, and finished the day off with a peppermint birthday cake and singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.

 Paul and I were discussing it at supper, how (apart from being with our extended families, which would be our first choice of course!) this was an absolutely wonderful way to spend Christmas.

We didn't exchange gifts, except for the kids getting a couple things in their stockings this morning, and Paul and I getting some handmade gifts from the kids in ours.


We went to church to worship.

We went for a walk and enjoyed God's creation.

We enjoyed a simple, relaxing afternoon in one another's company.


The beauty of simplicity.  We actually didn't plan it at all.  It kinda just showed up.


Because sometimes life gets complicated, and we make some things harder than they need to be.

But God's Message is simple.  And I believe He wants us to enjoy the small things that make this life tolerable, while we wait on our Forever Home.


I feel we got a glimpse of that today.


And it was a wonderful Christmas gift.




 So, a very Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a Good Night!




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