Our Christmas

On Christmas we started our day with a late Birthday gift treasure hunt for Jaden. He got a large print Bible from Mom, Dad and me. Then we had a breakfast of oranges, scones and pear crisp. We read the Christmas account from Matthew and Luke. After that we opened our gifts, and made a late lunch. Dad's Mom, Dad's Mom's Mom and a family friend came over for lunch and supper. Then we kids went outside and played football in the moonlight. It was Joel, Abby, and me (Johanna) on a team; Caleb, Phoebe and Jaden on the other team. Of course it had to be non-tackle, because we played it on our street. :) We also extended our Christmas celebration to yesterday when we went out to eat at On the Border.

A Christmas passage:

²⁶ Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”^[c]
29 But when she saw him,^[d] she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. ³⁰ Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. ³² He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. ³³ And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
³⁴ Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
³⁵ And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. ³⁷ For with God nothing will be impossible.”
³⁸ Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

⁴⁶ And Mary said:


      “ My soul magnifies the Lord,
       ⁴⁷ And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
       ⁴⁸ For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
      For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
       ⁴⁹ For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
      And holy is His name.
       ⁵⁰ And His mercy is on those who fear Him
      From generation to generation.
       ⁵¹ He has shown strength with His arm;
      He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
       ⁵² He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
      And exalted the lowly.
       ⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things,
      And the rich He has sent away empty.
       ⁵⁴ He has helped His servant Israel,
      In remembrance of His mercy,
       ⁵⁵ As He spoke to our fathers,
      To Abraham and to his seed forever.”

¹ And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. ² This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. ³ So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
⁴ Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, ⁵ to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife,^[a] who was with child. ⁶ So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. ⁷ And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Glory in the Highest

 
⁸ Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And behold,^[b] an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. ¹⁰ Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. ¹¹ For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
       ¹⁴ “ Glory to God in the highest,
      And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”<sup>[c]

15</sup> So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. ¹⁷ Now when they had seen Him, they made widely^[d] known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. ¹⁸ And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. ¹⁹ But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

Circumcision of Jesus

 
²¹ And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child,^[e] His name was called JESUS, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

Below are some photos of our Christmas. Enjoy! :)

Scones + oranges + vanilla yogurt + pear crisp = Our Christmas breakfast

Can you tell who's taking this photo? :) I could not get them to hold still! :) I guess breakfast was too good...

Some of the many presents we have been blessed with this year.

A Birthday cake fro Jesus. It was banana nut cake, made by our famous baker Phoebe. :) It was delicious!

Jaden's Birthday gift treasure hunt. The clues were Bible verses.

A clue from the bread box

A clue on the fishing rod

Jaden with his Treasure

Our tree

Abs

Abby and Phoebe

Most of the gifts

My gift to Phoebe... "Brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favorite things!"

Mom opens her cute gift from Jaden

Phoebe's gift to Abby-- "China Road".

The gift from Mom and Dad to Abby was the movie "Amazing Grace" about William Wilberforce. :)

Joel, the robot. :)

The lunch table

Chicken, Grandma's famous greenbean casserole, stuffing and mashed potatoes.

The dessert table

More food

An apple swan Phoebe made and I froze with cream cheese, vanilla yogart and honey.

Phoebe and her presents

Abby and her presents (she actually got two more yesterday.. you'll see later on in the post).

Me and my presents :) Note, Elisha W.: I am wearing my costume. :)

Yours-truly

My new lampshade on my lamp

Abby's pretty card that was on my present

Towels, towels and washcloths!

This is Jaden at On the Border

A shady character :)

Dearest Dad

These chips were SO good!

I think this was Phoebe's plate

Abby's plate

Mom's plate

Caleb's plate, I think

Dad's plate

My plate

Joel's

The old McKinney cottonmill

Abby and her "new" book Stepping Heavenward. This book was actually made in 1899... Its the oldest book Abby has owned.

The newest book Abby has ever owned.

Joel