December 30, 2010 9:48 p.m.

Dear friends, have you had a Merry Christmas so far?  We are already six days into the Twelve days of Christmas.

Our first day of Christmas, December 25th, was very nice.  We spent it at home, just the four of us, and then maintained our tradition of leaving the house in the late afternoon to visit the town of Celebration to enjoy Christmas dinner at the Columbia restaurant, a Spanish/Cuban restaurant that is well known in our state.

I sometimes feel I tell my stories best with photos, so that I shall do.

First up, we attended a very nice Christmas Eve service, a beautiful and peaceful candlelight service.  Sweet Girl had a bad cold and could not join her chorus during the service, so she sat with us.  Here we are in the narthex before much of the crowd arrived.

During the service, Chips, who is also in the chorus, had the distinct honor of being the one choral member who played choir chimes.  He was very excited about his duty of playing them before a congregation of some 1300 people, and he took the task seriously.  It is pretty much impossible to take pictures during the service, so you are going to have to take my word on this one.

Later that night, the children left behind their letters to Santa, including candy canes for him, his reindeer, and Mrs. Claus.  They also had several questions for him regarding the logistics of his annual trip around the world, for their belief in the jolly old elf is being subject to much logical scrutiny these days.  Questions like: How do you fit down the chimney?  Why is Rudolph’s nose red?  What do you really look like?  Draw a picture of yourself here on this paper.  Draw a picture of the elves and your workshop on this page.  You get the idea.

Fortunately, Santa was very patient about addressing all these questions and concerns, for the children had much to read and look at on Christmas morning.

For instance, they learned that Rudolphs’ nose is red because he is cold.  That Santa fits down the chimney because he isn’t as fat as everyone thinks.  That Santa was returning the candy canes we offered to Mrs. Claus because Mrs. Claus is on a diet this year.  You see, Santa is very good at appearing to answer your questions without really providing much real information.  Just like some people I know. 

The early morning calm before the chaos…

A critical inspection of the evidences left behind by Santa…

Notice that, in lieu of drawing pictures, Santa left behind official photographs of himself relaxing at home, of some of the lady elves who perform clerical tasks for him (like reading letters), and of his workshop (which, due to outsourcing, resembles more the warehouse of Amazon.com than it does the workshop of your imagining). 

In our home, Santa does not bring the big stuff.  He merely fills the Christmas stockings with unexpected small surprises.  Sometimes even including things that Mom and Dad wouldn’t normally choose, like silly bands.  Further proof of the true existence of Santa.  Just so you know how it is here.  I’ve heard he does things differently in other folks’ homes.

The children attacked the stockings first upon awakening. 

Then, Self-Reliant Man starts a fire in the fireplace.  It made for a perfect Christmassy atmosphere!

Next we had a true southern breakfast of biscuits and gravy, eggs and bacon.  Then we slowly and orderly opened gifts.  Some highlight gifts of interest to mention here include…….

……… an authentic imitation Charlie Brown Christmas tree (Self-Reliant Man concluded that the people in the Chinese factory that made this haven’t yet stopped laughing about it),

…………. a new and improved air rifle,

…….. a 20” girl’s bicycle,

a slot car set,

greeting card software and a coat (for me),

and a couple of different Nerf guns.

In the afternoon, we hit the road for dinner.  It was very pleasant, and the weather was nice, too.  Several people were even dining at the outdoor tables.

Here we are, though, inside.  I am always cold..

After dinner, we walked around the town and explored.  Sweet Girl had a cold, so we didn’t stay too late.

posing in front of the tree,

..and the lake,

.. and admiring a nativity display outside someone’s home.

watching the skaters (have you ever seen people skate on plastic? because that’s what this was!  I wouldn’t have thought it was possible)

and seeing the hourly snowfall.  Snowflakes falling in front of palm trees are an interesting study in contrast.

We also met up with traditional Christmas revellers.

All in all, it was a lovely Christmas Day.  This is a good thing, because the following days of the week included record cold temperatures, heavy winds, frozen pipes, chills, and sore throats.

But the miracle to keep in mind is that the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us.  That, truly, is AMAZING!!  Praise God.