'Twas the night before Christmas...

And some of the children are snuggled in bed (not to mention their daddy). Emily is still up, and Jake is killing bad guys on Xbox. The house is very quiet, though... so peaceful. I know it certainly won't be in the morning!

It has been a truly wonderful year for us. We have a new son-in-law, a granddaughter on the way (just 4 more weeks!), the school-age kids are doing well in school, and the blessings of family and friends.  Add to that the gift of Christ... Emmanuel, God with us... we are blessed to overflowing.

Tomorrow we will open gifts and eat our traditional cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Later in the day we will visit family at the home of one of our nephews (newly-married this past Sept.). Following that, we will go to his brother's house, where he and his girlfriend will prepare a dinner for all of us. This will be the first Christmas in MANY years that I have not had to cook. Feels kind of strange, but also nice that my kitchen will be clean tomorrow. We'll enjoy what is becoming a yearly tradition of "Dirty Santa" (gift exchange that involves "stealing" presents from each other). Hopefully we'll make a little music together as well.

Five days later, it will be time to celebrate Emily's and Noah's birthdays. Em will be 21 and Noah, 17. Again, we'll fall back upon tradition and go to a Japanese hibachi restaurant to celebrate. Seems like this started around 10 years ago and just stuck with us.

Funny... In the last 2 paragraphs, I mentioned 3 traditions. I wonder how many more we have? I've never stopped to think or count. I wonder if there are any traditions we should discontinue... (I can think of one tradition we used to have that is gone: the traditional fight-while-putting-the-lights-on-the-Christmas-tree. Got rid of that one by getting a pre-lit tree!) Are there any traditions we need to institute?

Such are my deep thoughts in the quiet of Christmas Eve... Praying blessings on all my friends and family this season.