Merry Christmas!

1. Snow flurries! Just a few snow flurries in the air caused great excitement. I watched them skid and burst into pieces on the road.
2. A thought from our pastor at the candlelight service: The stars we see in the night sky are the very same stars that Mary and Joseph saw. They are the same stars Jesus saw. And they are the very stars every other person throughout history who has ever turned his face toward the night sky has seen. 
2a. We sang Silent Night by candlelight. I glanced down at Marian's illuminated face and her eyes were wide with wonder as she held her candle.
3. This is the first Christmas when the four sisters cannot be home together. It doesn't feel right to continue certain traditions with some of us missing so we decide to improvise.
3a. Once the little ones are put to bed, two of the sisters, a son-in-law, and myself arrange gifts under the tree. Then we sit back and talk quietly under the hush and glow of it all.


This is what peace feels like, even if for a fleeting moment. The cold, dark night is far away outside the window. We are warm and fed, comforted and loved. We want for nothing and have nothing to fear. How undeserving yet blessed we are.