Here's our big boy on Christmas Eve at his other Grandma and Grandpa's house. My dad loves trains, so this little sweater vest is in his honor. Ethan loved the train that went around the Christmas tree, and my dad was patient when Ethan didn't understand that it as a train to look at and not to play with.
The grandchildren with Grandma and Grandpa. Jaric, Baby Lincoln, Ethan, Mom, Dad, Tairika (sitting in back), Celia, Tristan, and Jagger.
I love being with all my family because they are so funny. The kids were really good.
This year was a little bit different because a huge snow storm stopped us from going to Christmas Eve church. I thought it would be okay to stay home and we could do our own little service with our family and it might even be more meaningful to us. I pictured dad saying a few words, maybe singing a few carols, lighting some candles, reading the Christmas story from Luke 2, everyone sharing favorite memories from Christmases past. That's not at all what happened. I guess I should have spoken up and taken some lead. My dad did try to talk about the true meaning of Christmas, and he had my nephew read some of the Christmas story. That was nice, but it didn't really hit home for me.
Our church has had a theme this Advent and Christmas season called "A Royal Blue Christmas." (Our pastor loves themes; he's a great leader and storyteller.) Each week a different aspect of the color "Blue" was tied into the story of Christ's coming, such as "Black and Blue" and "Singing the Blues" and how everyone has hurts and Christ is here to heal us of those hurts. Another week he talked about "Blueprints" and pointed out the different ways the Bible is a blueprint for our lives.
My favorite message was called "Blue Jeans and Blue Genes." We heard all about how blue jeans got started as a durable type of pants for miners, and later, in the 1940s, only the really poor kids wore jeans and they just weren't cool. Then the rebels started wearing them in the 1950s and 60s and today they're like a status symbol--everyone from "poor kids" to A-listers wear them. But at one point some rich old lady said that no one with "blue genes" (meaning, royal, rich, old money-type people) would be caught wearing "blue jeans."
Now consider the way in which Jesus was born at Christmas. Think of all the contrasting ways in which his birth into this world reflected both humility (blue jeans) and majesty (blue genes).
Humility--he was born with cows and sheep around him and laid in a feeding trough (pretty gross if you think about it). His mother Mary was probably ostracized for having a baby out of wedlock and Joseph probably wasn't looked upon too highly either. Yet Mary was able to hold her head up high and trust that God would carry her through the humiliation of that experience. Few of us can truly know what that was like, but many people experience embarrassment in life. My pastor's example was the high school kids that he used to teach who were affected by this story because they were born out of wedlock or looked down upon for coming from disfunctional homes.
Majesty--angels announced Christ's birth, his birth was foretold for centuries beforehand, shepherds came and worshipped him (no one came to worship Ethan when he was born, although perhaps his grandparents came close), magi researched his birth and traveled for months to find out more about this child, and just the fact that he is God and was born as a true baby.
Anyway, I love the Christmas season and I'm never disappointed after the actual day is here. Each day of the season is fun, even when every minute seems to be filled with assembling calendars, addressing Christmas cards, writing notes to students, cleaning up the house, wrapping gifts. It's nice to be at that point in my life where every day is good. It's not about the gifts or the surprise or having new things. And I am even more happy that the people around me aren't all about that either. I think everyone I know just enjoys being with people and seeing the happiness of others. Life isn't always easy or happy, but my prayer is that each of us will more closely know how Christ is both humility and majesty--strength and peace when things are tough and the source of joy when things are wonderful. 
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