Merry Christmas

On this Christmas morning I wish for you the blessings that only Christ himself can bring to your homes.  If he is there, you will then have a very good Christmas whether it is particularly merry or not. 

Following our Scandinavian traditions (my mother was of Swedish descent), we held our gift opening last evening.  First, we had a much too large supper, turkey, ham, potato sausage, tourtière, rice pudding, etc.(I guess you can tell we are not vegetarians!)  Then we had one gift that needed to be opened before heading off to church – Christian was given his Njembe a little early since we wanted him to play it at the Christmas Eve service.  Then we all headed over to the church for the candlelight service. 

Returning from the service, we settled in the living room to hear Leo read the familiar passage from Luke 2 – the true Christmas story.    Then we began giving and receiving gifts. 

Sometimes the gifts we give are purely a store bought item that is nice to get but is not terribly significant.  Other gifts are priceless and with them comes so much love and thoughtfullness that they are almost too much to receive.  I will let you in on my most treasured gift from this year.     Painted by my daughter-in-law Annette with a poem written by my son, David.  This is my grandson, Kieran, and it is his first Christmas.  This is what my son wrote:

Grandparents

 

With love like no others

You touch my life everyday

Always there to lend a hand

Making time for me to play

 

You’ll be there while I grow up

Teaching, guiding, always loving

Even when I get it wrong

You both are so caring

You’ve been there all along

 

From time to time, every nerve I’ll test

Your frown, yell or scornful voice

Will let me know I’ve been a pest

But you will still love me

 

Grandparents greater there never was

I see in you what I want to be

And I will love you both for eternity

 

By David Lanoie

This was not the only gift from my children that made me sit back and take a deep breath.  I thank God for each one of them – he has really blessed me.  (And I am saying that in honesty even if you might wonder about my sanity if you are a regular reader of my blog!)