Merry CHRIST-mas!

Well, it finally came! After all the long anticipation, Christmas finally came and went. And boy was it a great Christmas! There was plenty of laughs, fun, prayer, and, yes, presents!

All my life I've known the true reason why we have Christmas- because of Jesus's birth! It explains in the Bible, that a woman named Mary was engaged to a man named Joseph. (I say woman and man- but they were really teenagers!) But an angel appeared to Mary and told her that she was going to be with child- with Jesus! Mary, with a humble heart, didn't reject what the angel had to say. But, Mary was a virgin. So when Mary told Joseph that she was pregnant, he decided he should "put her away quietly". (He was a good man, and didn't want to cause a public disgrace.) But an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, and explained that the child in her was from the Holy Spirit. When Joseph woke up, he did was the angel told him to. So, Jesus was born in Bethlehem! What a sight that must have been. And now we have Christmas to celebrate his birth:).

I admit, when I'm opening up the present that I've wanted for half the year, my mind isn't always on Jesus's birth. But I think it's very important, that during this season, we remember that Jesus is the reason for the season!

This was Christmas Eve:). We almost missed going to the Christmas Eve service! (A tradition we've had for as long as I can remember). But luckily, traffic loosened up and we made it just as things began.

Another tradition we have is to eat basically all junk food for dinner on Christmas Eve. Boy did I enjoy that as a kid! (And, I admit, I still enjoy it now too.) :)
Christmas morning:)

After the Christmas dinner, we all went for a walk to try and burn off all those icky calories!

Beautiful sister!

:)