Our morning started early not because of an excited child waking us up to see what Santa brought, but rather because we needed to get said child (and the rest of us) to church before 7.30am as he was on sound duty today. So we were up and having banana muffins for breakfast by 6.45am. Then out the door to fetch Granny and off to church.
We had a lovely service with our reduced music team playing (just the two guys) but soooooooooo grateful to them as that was definitely much better than the dreary taped organ music.The sermon was all about making room for Jesus who had no room in the inn. There were definite points in the sermon that rang true for me as I listened, but now over 12 hours later that are a bit harder to recall.
After church we came home and had coffee, took our annual family photo and then opened presents... mainly lots of chocolate given and shared...the best kind of present as it soon disappears and doesn't need dusting!
I then finished the lunch prep...slicing the gammon, putting the fruit salad in a dish and just getting everything ready for transport. But before we left Mom and I phoned the family in New Zealand to wish them Merry Christmas and catch up on their doings. Was soooooooooo nice to chat and spend time with them even though they are on the other side of the world from us.
Then we were off to my cousin Noel and Ilse for the rest of our day... what a lovely spread for lunch... with my contribution of gammon and salad adding in to the feast. It was a lovely relaxed meal with a few crackers popping too.
After lunch was done (once those who wanted seconds had had!) we cleared the decks and brought out the pud... make it yourself pavlova and Ilse provided chocolate trifle and icecream. Again there were second helping had by most of us... yummy!!!!
And then we were FULL and had to relax for a bit before we had coffee and more to eat... fruitcake and shortbread from Granny (I was toooooooooooo full to even attempt that!) Madi came out to see us and spend some time with us before dragging Mom off to her room to play... such a special treat. The rest of us were just sitting around chatting and Aaron had a dip in the pool.
We eventually departed for home after 6pm... a good afternoon spent together with no frills or stress. Really a wonderful Christmas Day.
With that Christmas is now done for another year. The festivities and shopping madness are over and we start with looking towards the New Year. I've still got over a week worth of holiday and lots of things to accomplish before I go back to work on the 6th. I don't plan to stress on what gets done or not, I am just taking each day as it comes.
I wish you and yours a blessed festive season and all of God's amazing blessings.
Some of the comments Ilse made this afternoon have stuck with me... no matter how stressed life can be, or how bad the day is, when you look at the children at Amazing-K and see their outlook on life (always smiling) and think about how hard they have it, then my life and worries pales in comparison. We need to be truly thankful for what we have, what we can do and say and where we can go every day. Autistic kids don't have that freedom... they get told ... you will do this, or have that, or eat such and such, and just have to accept it. Not easy.
Thank you Lord for my life and the abundance of blessings I have.
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