Christmas 2011

Merry Belated Christmas!  Having a baby in December makes things a little crazy ... and it makes you think.  I remember this last time too -- first of all, the month flies by with all the new-ness, the busy-ness, and the crazy-ness: baby, Christmas, family, parties, presents, etc.  It also makes you take a second look at the amazing story that is Christmas.  How God sent us his son and this poor teenager, Mary, had to give birth her first time in a barn.  A nasty, stinky, dirty barn and perhaps without the female support (mom, sisters, doula, or whatever they had to help you get through it back then) to help her.  While I'm sure Joseph, like Jack, was amazing but she must have been terrified.  Or perhaps not.  Maybe in the wonderful way God works, she was perfectly calm, perfectly ready, perfectly confident that she could handle it.  That she could handle delivering and being the mother to the son of God. 
I also look at this precious, perfect baby of mine and it's a stunning visual reminder of the gift of baby Jesus.  Joy to the World!

We had a wonderful Christmas with family.  We scheduled the VanderLugt Christmas party early in anticipation of the three babies due on the 23rd (Lucas, arrived the 4th), 27th (Levi, arrived the 20th) and January 2 (Mackenzie, arrived on time!).  It was lots of fun and lots of activity with all the excited kids!

Jack and I did Christmas with "our" family on Christmas Eve and we got the boys a golf set.  They LOVE it (anyone shocked?).  They carried it around for two days straight. 

Christmas with the VanderPloegs was on Christmas day.  It was a busy one complete with church, a birthday celebration for the twins + Uncle Bri (before dinner at the Ploeg's as our original date was bumped by Lucas' birth), lunch, presents, trains, tackling cousins, and peppermint ice cream pie.  One nice thing about the cousins being a little older is that they graciously let Sam & Tyler "help" them open all their presents (they caught on fast). 

Christmas 2011 was a wonderful time with family celebrating the birth of our Lord!  Merry Late Christmas!