Family

Ah Christmas.  Such a busy, hectic, crazy, money-guzzling...amazing time.  I love Christmas.  It was so nice to be able to spend time with family the last few days.  Christmas eve through to Boxing Day, we spent with my family, and the 27th was my wife's family gathering.  It really hit me (again) this year what a blessing it is to have such a wonderful family on both sides.  It's something that I realize not everyone has.  I know many people who are estranged from their parents, siblings, or children...and I can't imagine what that would be like.  I feel for anyone in that situation, and hope and pray for reconciliation.

The more I think about it, the more I know that I am blessed to have a great family that loves me, who have shared ups and downs with me, with whom I have amazing memories, and who share the same faith and beliefs that I have. And I married into a family that's the exact same way.

If you have such a family, count your blessings this Christmas - and everyday.  We are some of the lucky few.

Christmas Traditions

Tomorrow on the All New Breakfast Club, we're doing a talk-back show on Christmas traditions. I think we may have started a couple of new traditions in our family.  Christmas usually rushes by for me...the season gets so busy that it's hard to slow down and really take it in.  I'm happy to say though, that this Christmas has started off a bit different, for a couple of reasons.

My son is almost two years old, and he has made it his mission to yell "CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!!" every time we pass a decorated house.  It was funny the first few times...now it's a bit deafening, lol.  It's especially tough when we pass five houses in a row that are all decorated.  But every time we're in the car, it's a constant reminder of what season it is, instead of driving by the beautiful lights and barely noticing.  Ah, the enthusiasm and excitement of kids...

We've also started doing something new this year.  We've titled it our 'Fantastically Fun Friday Family Film Fest!"  Which basically means that every Friday night for the month of December, we watch a Christmas movie together.  This is a rare treat in our house because we don't have cable and also don't let our son watch too much on Netflix (we'd rather have him playing and engaging in hands-on learning).  So this is a bit of a change and it's nice to sit down together as a family and relax.

And finally, my wife created an advent calendar for our son.  Everyday in leading up to Christmas, we read a bible passage and then he gets to open one small gift (from the dollar store).  He loves it, and it's fun for us to watch as parents.

So I guess the link in all of these is...my son.  I didn't realize that until I wrote this post.  So although you'll likely never read this, thank you Leonidas, for helping me to get into the Christmas spirit earlier this year.  Yay, it's Christmas!

Friday Thoughts

It's Friday, December 20th, 5 days to go until Christmas...and there are a thousand thoughts whipping through my head.  This truly is one of the busiest times of the year...

The first thought is work.  Finishing up everything I have to do today so that I can rush home and do a thousand things at home.

The second thought is Christmas shopping.  Sadly, I haven't started.  I really tried to be better this year.  I REALLY tried.  But it's tough to find the time!  This is part of the thousand things mentioned above.  The saving grace is that I know what a few of my gifts will be, it's just a matter of going out and actually getting them.

The third thought running through my head is scheduling out the next week and a half.  My family wants me to drive down and visit them this weekend...but I'm not sure if I'll have time to do that with everything else still on my plate.  I work for a couple of days next week, then head straight out of town to see family for 4 days...then come back and head straight out of town again to visit the other side of the family for 4 days...and then it's straight back to work.  Meanwhile, where's the time to go Christmas shopping, and the time to relax a bit on my own and with my wife and son at home?

The fourth thing - vacation!  But this is not a relaxing thought...at least not yet.  When I think about going on vacation for a week starting on Christmas day, the thought right now is about everything that has to be done before I go.  And then it comes back to the scheduling mentioned above.

And the fifth thing on my mind is trying to slow down and not let Christmas rush me by.  I've been trying to do this all along, but it hasn't really happened.  I really do want to take time over the next few days to reflect on this season, and make sure I know what we're celebrating.

Fifth should be first, I know.  Maybe that's my problem.  Maybe that's why I feel like I'm so rushed, because my priorities are all out of whack.  And so maybe the order of my priorities changes today.

Torn between two worlds

I'm finding myself in a bit of an odd space right now.  I'm torn between two worlds, and yet they flow perfectly together, feeding off each other.  It sounds like a contradiction, but let me explain.

We've been back from Israel for a week and a half, but my thoughts keep going back to the trip.  In my spare moments, I find myself drifting back to some of the sights we saw, experiences we felt, the listeners I met who I now consider friends, and our guide Raffi and fearless driver David.  It's a bit like living in a constant nostalgic state, thankful for our fantastic trip but missing it at the same time.  I think of Raffi and David specifically because I don't know if I will ever see them again, in this or the next life.  With the listeners on the trip, we've agreed to keep in touch and do a reunion, and if we do lose touch years down the road at least we'll be reunited one day up above.  I wish I could say the same for Raffi and David, and it breaks my heart that (for now) I can't.  And that is the biggest part of the nostalgia to me, friends I will never see again and who won't share in our joys.  Hence, they will remain in my prayers.

And while I'm wresting down the nostalgia, I'm being thrust into the Christmas season.  I say 'thrust' because 1) it's happening so fast, and 2) I'm a bit stuck in the past three weeks as explained above.  Nonetheless, I'm getting really excited as I hear the Christmas music and see decorations going up.

So those are the my two worlds right now, how are they flowing perfectly together?  I'm finding more and more that my trip to Israel has set the perfect backdrop for Christmas.  As I read through the Christmas story (I was reading the first few chapters of Luke this morning) I better understand the text.  Names that I normally would have glossed over suddenly jump off the page as I recognize their significance.  The words and places have so much more context, and the story seems so much more real.  The more I read in the bible, the more I think about the trip.  And the more I think about our trip, the more I want to read my bible.

It's a vicious cycle, but one I don't mind being caught in.

Leonidas, one week in

So I'm not going to be one of those people that starts posting about their kids every time, but this is still new for me so I think I'm allowed two posts in a row on this.  With that, allow me to share my new favourite picture:

He's so small!  He's like a little bean...  Favourite picture might be an exaggeration cause there are a lot of good ones, but I like this one a lot.

Anyway, just continuing to thank God for such a great blessing over Christmas.  And now that I'm a parent, and with it being so close to Christmas, I've tried to make myself think of what it was like for God to give up his son to die for us.  But I haven't thought about it...because I don't want to.  I guess that in itself is the first step to beginning to understanding it.

Maybe I'll try again...later.