Thursday, December 26, 2013

Merry Christmas from the chilly state of Illinois:)


 A church photo after the Christmas Eve family services... The 2 older boys participated in a human video during those 2 services... With a hubby as a pastor, it was a bit of back and forth to church services all day and evening... But we are sooooo thankful to live on campus and that the commute for him is so short!:)


Our old tradition... IHOP with our small group after Christmas Eve service... such special memories for us... We miss our sweet friends much...

New tradition, since the kids would not let the IHOP tradition die... 
Breakfast at IHOP Christmas Eve morning... 
With gift card in hand (YAY!!!) we braved the freezing temps of around 5 degrees and headed out... oh my TOO MUCH FOOD!:)  Such a treat!


Between the later services we had the head pastor's family, our next door neighbors, over to eat.  The mashed potatoes were a total flop, but no one cared... It was just nice to spend time together... We are so incredibly blessed to be here at St. Peter.  God did an amazing thing for our family in moving us here. And we are so blessed to serve with such special, humble, loving people.  God is so good!  We are blessed beyond measure this year to celebrate Christmas with new beginnings... :)


Anna and Hopie with our Birthday cake for Jesus! 

 The treats we have gotten this year from members were over the top... Christmas Eve we were hand delivered 2 HUGE platters of cookies.  This kind lady is one amazing baker... and the extended family was blessed by it yesterday as well!  (I think our new year round tradition will be to pick a favorite of our Christmas cookie recipes and make one a month... there were just too many treats for us to make more on top of what we received... that way we can enjoy them year round... can you tell I like to eat:)

Christmas in a Pastor's family is different... We got to spend way more time with Greg since we live on campus here which is such a gift... Even with the craziness of a pastor's schedule being so booked at Christmas, we find ways to make it special.  We never do it up real big on presents and try to keep the focus on where it should be... 
The MOST PRECIOUS GIFT OF ALL... JESUS... born for you and me...
Praying that you and yours were able to take the time to slow down and cherish the gift of that precious baby born for us all!  
What a gift He is to us... EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE YEAR!

Much Christmas Love from our family to yours!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Great traditions, so sweet! We decided to stat a new one for Christmas Eve to go out t eat. It is just to difficult to cook when I am preparing for Christmas day:) We were not to busy this Christmas at church which is a nice change. Glad t here you still had time with your hubby! Love the festive family photos!