It's been quite the holiday season in our home... all of the traditional things we do in addition to lots and lots of family, friends and activities. And yet, there's been plenty of time for reflection. Some of our highlights include:
- Having ALL of my (Rachel's) immediate family under one roof for Christmas this year. It has been seven years since my sister, my parents and my little family of three have been together for Christmas. We are so spread out geographically, it's hard for everyone to always be together for this special time - but we all made it happen this year. My parents came on the 20th and Auntie Becky & Auntie Fran (pictures above) rolled in on the 23rd. It was hard to say goodbye to my sister as she and Fran headed back to New York on Monday the 28th...and Nate is already mourning my parents' departure this coming Wednesday, the 6th. I cooked, cooked, cooked with my sister, we celebrated THREE birthdays at Ousie's and played Wii like crazy (Nate FINALLY got one after many years of hoping. He'd showed us how responsible he could be with the limited DS time he got, and so we caved... but we've all been having fun playing it together)... you can see the little video from Christmas morning of him opening his gift, below...
- Our traditional Christmas Eve with the Quans (and my family!) at our home reminded me of how time moves so quickly, and how family changes, grows and adapts over time. Our nephews were here, but two of our nieces and their husbands were not... makes me sad to think that as people's lives change, jobs take them to various places and life in general happens, it is not often that we are ALL together. But, we still had the traditional Jook (Chinese Porridge) and Curry night for Christmas Eve. People's absences were duly noted because I actually had some leftovers this year - something that has not happened in quite some time. Three crockpots of Jook used to not be enough... and suddenly, I found myself putting away a quart of leftover. :( Sort of sad... However, Nate still lit the Christ Candle on Christmas Eve with the help of his Aunties and Uncles and Cousins, and still went to bed eager and excited for the morning and all the fun it would bring. I loved that his Chin Clan was here to enjoy him enjoying them...
- And, we still had our annual trek to Leona, TX - a tradition that started many years ago... we trek up to the Mizwa Ranch in Leona and meet our friends the Eutslers and the Myers (and usually the Chois) every year... and this year shared the experience with our friends the Mosemans. My parents even joined us as we fed Tex, the Longhorn, visited with Mamere and Dado Mizwa (who have loved Nate since the day they laid eyes on him) and had incredible steaks and dessert at the Leona General Store.
So, we hope you too had some good memories... and thought you'd enjoy catching up with our family holidays here... we were grateful to have been granted one more year to reflect on the faith that sustains us and to celebrate that faith. I love the Message version of John 1:1... "And the Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood..." Our little family is so grateful for that truth that means so much to us...
No matter what you celebrated, we hope you had a holiday filled with great peace and love!
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