Christmas Imperfection

Whew, I last left you right after Thanksgiving & as we were preparing for Jack's 10th birthday celebration...and here I sit the night after Christmas.

A whole lot of life has happened in this last month...birthday parties, Christmas teas, concerts, programs & parties (yes, all plural!), Cookie Exchanges, outings with friends & all sorts of merriment & festivities! We decorated the house real purty, oh & there was the shopping, the laundry, the cooking & all the preparations for the aforementioned parties, programs, presents & the like.

There was a whole lot of picture taking going on...2500 photos taken in November & December alone! And, sadly, what was not happening during that time was blogging. I had the best of intentions & lots of ideas & blog-worthy events rolling around in my head, but they never made it to the screen. Partly because our PC has been dying a slow & painful death...at least that's what it feels like any time I try to do something. So photos didn't get edited or uploaded & blogs did not get written.

But {squeals of delight!!!} my dear & wonderful & thoughtful husband surprised me on Christmas & he surprised me good! For now I sit in my familiar office chair at the same desk I've used for at least 10 years, but there is a nice, new, shiny, pretty, awesome & fast iMac smiling back at me!!! My dinosaur PC is still hanging on for a bit longer while I figure out how to get all of my stuff (mainly 100 GB of photos from the last 10 years!) transferred over as quickly & efficiently as possible...so far it is somewhat challenging, but I am sure we will prevail! And once I'm up to speed on the new operating system, I am hoping to gain some efficiency blogging. My goal for the New Year is 2-3 posts a week...but that's a post for another day!

So tonight I just want to say that I hope you all had a blessed Merry Christmas. I do LOVE Christmastime & can't wait to share all of our fun things with you in upcoming blog posts. This time of year literally sparkles & that just makes me happy. But as the song says, "All the presents & lights make the holiday nice, but the real gift is you...Happy Birthday, Jesus...Jesus, I love you!"

These pictures are from our Christmas Eve...everyone so cute in their new Christmas PJs, but the night was fraught with imperfection.

Our church has three beautiful candle-light services on Christmas Eve. We were scheduled to serve in the nursery at church for the 4:00pm service & planned to meet family at the 6:00pm service. We needed to be at church at 3:00pm. At about 2:30 we woke Drew from his nap only to discover he had a fever of 103.5...so quick change of plans. Jeff took the big 3 to church to serve & attend the service, and I stayed home with a pitiful Drew & a perky Lucy!

I had visions of finishing up the present wrapping & snapping some pics of Lucy looking oh-so-adorable! in her pretty Christmas Eve outfit...

But, alas, I forgot what it is like to stay home with a sick little one...for he was a bit hyper & then a whole lot of needy. So we snuggled & had some together time & then I got both kids down for a nap...

And I wrapped about three presents before everyone was home from church & kids were up & the excitement of Christmas EVE had set in!!

 So we got the kids into their cute Christmas PJs & steered everyone towards the tree...

 Someone was moving, jumping, squinting or wiggling in every shot!

 Can you tell that Drew is feverish?!! Poor thing, he really was a champ!

 Christmas Eve Cuteness!!

Oh, the imperfection of it all!

 The loud, messy, blurry, painful imperfection.

 But it made me think & reminded me of the first sacrifice Jesus made when He who IS perfection took on flesh. He was born a lowly birth & laid {ever so lovingly} in a cold, hard feeding trough.

 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One & Only, who came from the Father, full of grace & truth. John 1:14

And so, He not only bore our sins, but he lived in this imperfect world & experienced the pain of living inside a mortal, human body. He remained perfect in spirit, yet was fully man & fully God. Amazing, amazing love!

 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Galatians 4:4-5 

 Wow, I've realized my own views of imperfection are so small when I think on the perfection of Jesus wrapped in imperfect cloth, imperfect skin...when I try to picture in my mind Jesus in Heaven amid utter splendor & perfection saying to the Father, "Okay, I will go. I will trade this for them."

Truly, truly! a weary world rejoices at this unfathomable display of love! 

And so I celebrate our imperfection this Christmas because Jesus came to redeem the imperfection of this world...and that's the best gift I could ever imagine!