After a night short of sleep, it is off to our oldest daughters house.  We are there to see our Grandchildren as they open their presents and to share in their excitement.  After the initial surge in frantic activity, their father sits them down and he rereads the Nativity story to them.  Yes we love to see them as happy children that are having the true meaning of Christmas read to them every year.  The oldest of the grandchildren at that house is ten years old, and I know she has heard the Nativiy read to her at least for 8 years.
Later in the day we take a short drive to see the other daughter and her husband and children.  The whole day is spent with family. that at one time I didn’t have, and never would have had in the numbers that I do now.  We are told that with all suffering, there is a greater good coming from it.  This year was the tenth aniversary of my first wife’s death.  We were never able to have children, so we adopted.  During that time, I was gone much of the time and did not experience a child growing and learning.  After her death, life seemed like it would never be as good again, much less better.  Five, almost six years ago, I remarried.  With this marriage came a whole family.  Over these years I have learned more about the importance of family.  I also have learned what a grandfather is.  The other grandfather only sees these Children maybe twice a year. At all other times, I am grandaddy.  Those children needed a grandfather to help love them, guide them and learn from them.  Although they are no “blood relation” they are truly a gift from God.  This has been the largest and best gift I have ever received, being a grandfather that is loved and who can return that love to all of them, the five children, 12 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild.  Like you see on shirts and hats, Life is Good.  We could very easily change that to “Life is GOD”.
I do not say this in any wrong or bad way about my first wife.  We had nearly 27 great years together.  Watching her die with breast cancer led me to where I am now.  She was the best Christian witness to carrying her cross gladly and knowing she would spend eternity with our Lord.  That lead me to where I am now, a seminarian who is anticipating Holy Orders as a vocational Deacon with a large family that I love and who loves me in return.  Life is GOOD.

Apparently I’m spending it in a time warp because by my calendar the year is 2009 A.D.

Fixed. Thanks for the head’s Up.

But to answer seriously:
We’re celebrating by attending the Nochebuena Mass in our village in Costa Rica last night, followed by a traditional Tico (Costa Rican) dinner at the home of our friends (whom we consider our adoptive family here).  There were lots of fireworks during the evening to celebrate the coming of the Niño Divino.

Today, Christmas morning, we will be enjoying a traditional Danish Christmas breakfast with other expatriates living here.  This evening, our Tico family will join us for spaghetti and peach cobbler.

We managed to have a beautiful service at 5 pm Christmas Eve - had to cancel 11 due to the impending blizzard.  Interstates are now closed, and the road crews are not going after residential streets here until this storm calms down.  So, we are happily snowed in.

That is, except for our older kid - he is house/dog sitting for some parishioners, and might not be able to be here for Christmas Day if the streets aren’t plowed!  My wife is sweetly sad about it - it is our first practice at what life will be life when he goes off to college in about 9 mos.  So, we have a stocking and some gifts that will stay put ‘til he arrives (which, depending upon the weather, might not be before Sunday!)

I am spending Christmas Day at home with my wife, daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren. We will share the children’s delight at what Santa left them , and thank God that on this cold, rainy day in SW PA, we are at home surrounded by the people we care for the most.

We L2 went to service last night here in Lakeland, FL, and are sharing today together at home celebrating God’s gift of His Son.  Today is also my parents’ 56th wedding anniversary.  It is the healthiest Christmas we have had in 12 years, where we could fully concentrate on Christ.  We are grateful for the gift of Christ, and His healing in our lives.

In Battle Ground, Washington with my family - mom, dad, two younger brothers on Christmas break from 3rd year of med school. Went to Christmas Eve service at my parent’s UM church last night. One of my brothers has to work to day so we did our family Christmas dinner a few nights ago so I might head up to Mt. Hood this afternoon to do some solo snowboarding. Merry Christmas to all!

Here in the UK it is very cold in central London.  We had big congregation yesterday at 6pm for the Children’s Christmas Eve Mass, at which I was very nervous because we had a huge screen and I used PowerPoint pictures for the first time.  It went well despite me pressing the wrong button once.  (After the creed we folded the screen and the sanctuary was back to normal.)  A quieter, more reflective atmosphere throughout all the Masses compared with last year.  After the last Mass today I drove a short distance through the silent, almost empty streets, something very unusual in London, to join three other priests and a seminarian for a dinner of seafood cocktail and roast beef.  I have almost no family - all are gone to God, so I am very grateful for the hospitality of my brother priests.  I did catch a glimpse of my sister-in-law in London who was travelling from Harare to Auckland, NZ.  My brother, her husband, died on Christmas Day 1995, so we have mixed memories of this otherwise lovely day.  But God is good:  in New Zealand she has a reunion with her three sons who each live in different countries but are now together, with families, with her for Christmas, which makes it a precious time.  The church is beautiful, and our professional choir sang magnificently: at midnight, Charpentier Messe de Minuit de Noel and in the morning Victoria O Magnum Mysterium.  We are lucky to be able to have both solemn classical services and something more family friendly.  Our hearts were lifted to God.

We are in Summerville, South Carolina, 1/2 hour nw of Charleston by car, where we reside.  It was in the 60’s (Fahrenheit) today and rainy.  All 3 children are home are we are loving it, as are (especially) the three dogs.

We worshipped together as a fivesome last night at Saint Paul’s, Summerville and then I went to Christ Saint Paul’s Yonges Island to preach at the midnight service.

It looks like we will be playing a family card game after dinner. Woo-hoo!

I have spent the day at home, alone.  No Christmas Eve service; I no longer drive a night.  No Christmas Day service; the north wind has been howling since midnight, blowing our snow sometimes as high as the tree tops.  Clear sky, bright sunshine, but the access road could well be drifted in here and there and I don’t fancy getting the car stuck in a drift and having to walk to the nearest house… which could be a quarter mile away.
All four of my children called, as did one of my grandsons and the friend at whose house I teach my Tuesday afternoon Bible Class.
My husband Richard also called from Oakland, CA where he is helping his youngest daughter get her life back together after four psychiatric hospitalizations in 6 weeks.  She seems determined to stay on her meds and stay in therapy now.  I believe she will be able return to a happy, productive life…if she follows through. 
Richard should be home around Jan. 1. 
All this in perspective, I have had a very enjoyable Christmas Day.
Christmas is not about me, not about being with my family (although that is most desirable); it is the celebration of the birth of King Jesus.  God be praised for this, His most ineffable gift! 
Frances Scott