A Blessed Christmas Beginning

For Your Sake, God Became Man (excerpt) -  by St. Augustine of Hippo
Awake, mankind! For your sake God has become man. Awake, you who sleep, rise up from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you. I tell you again: for your sake, God became man.

You would have suffered eternal death, had he not been born in time. Never would you have been freed from sinful flesh, had he not taken on himself the likeness of sinful flesh. You would have suffered everlasting unhappiness, had it not been for this mercy. You would never have returned to life, had he not shared your death. You would have been lost if he had not hastened 'to your aid. You would have perished, had he not come.

Let us then joyfully celebrate the coming of our salvation and redemption. Let us celebrate the festive day on which he who is the great and eternal day came from the great and endless day of eternity into our own short day of time.

 We can never quite get a photo of everyone before we leave for Midnight Mass as we all leave at different times. You most likely cannot comprehend the logistics around here. I left at 9:30 with a 3 of the girls (choir and fixing some binders and set up for the post-Mass party). Some left at 10:15ish for altar boy practice, some left at 11:15ish to get there in time for the prelude of hymns. There was another vehicle that left sometime thereabouts. So... Kili will represent our family for now...

 The prelude began with a flute solo which was gorgeous! 1/2 dozen or so hymns with a couple more beautiful flute solos interspersed thereabouts.

 Our beautiful church with a lengthy string of altar boys and our priest!

 After Midnight Mass (1-1/2 hours or so) we had a great Christmas party, I don't know why I didn't take any pictures! Woops.  Then we went out to see that it was snowing!

 This is when I crawled in bed. *Yawn*

 Our Blessings

 pop gun

 One of the best wrapped gifts. A towel.

 The first gift opened (after stockings). Kili's sword, the size of him.

 Making fresh buns for the afternoon party. Turkey is also in the smoker.

 Gimli T-shirt

Copper duct tape wrapped gift

 There was a sea of gifts under our tree... just do the math 14 people. If everyone receives 5 gifts that is 70 gifts.  We did not receive 5 gifts each. We did not receive 10 gifts each... Unwrapping, no matter the speed takes a looooong time.

 There were many daggers and swords... of course!

 Eowyn gave me this beautiful Bethlehem wood engraving. Here is what it said:
My Mother
My mothers is a woman like no other. She gave me life, nurtured me, taught me, dressed me, fought for me, held me, shouted at me, kissed me, but most importantly she loved me unconditionally. There are not enough words to describe just how important my Mother is to me and what powerful influence she continues to be. Mother, I love you.
*sniff-sniff*
It is also a work of art! It's truly beautiful

 Worst wrapped gift ever? padding was recyclable water bottles and laundry. Seriously.  The layers went on to recycled mailers, etc...

 Another creatively wrapped gift. Mind you these gifts took about 10 minutes or more to unwrap.

 Someone was thoroughly enjoying the unwrapping.

 Finally, there was something useful inside.

 There were some very creative homemade gifts in the lot.

 This is the funniest gift. Kili made a gift for himself... taped legos on to a paper (he also gave one of these to Frodo and Bilbo. Legos are coveted items. So a very thoughtful gift.

 The true reason for the season.

 A beautiful chess set!

 Creatively adorable tube people made by Rosie.

 I received this beautiful painting from Belladonna. "The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament proclaims the worlds of the Lord. Psalms 19:1"  It is so beautiful!

Operation.

All were disappointed that it no longer shocks, only makes noise.

 Each one of the children received one of these gorgeous ornaments from Grandma and Auntie B. Each one contains an icon of  one of their patron saints.  Beautiful!

 I'm dreaming of a somewhat white Christmas

And now it is time for breakfast.

Yes, we used paper table cloth, paper plates. But we did use real silverware and cups (not pictured). 

We were really blessed by so many people with cards, letters, pictures, books, games, artwork, goodies, and all around good cheer. May God bless you all! Christmas day to be continued....