Dave, Claire and I gathered here at home for our tradition of reading the Christmas story, and sharing what particular aspect of it was meaningful this year.
This year it was the shepherds who stood out to me, and the part of the story where it says that once the angels had left them, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us!"
I shared that I want to be that responsive to the Lord's promptings and messages to me in this coming year!
After some breakfast, gift giving commenced...such as a dad giving his girl her set of tools!
She's going to need those as she moves into her new home and begins her life of caring for an apartment (though I'm pretty sure a quick call to her dad for some help now and then can be arranged!)
There were sweet traditions like my mom's yearly Christmas card to Dave and I, picked out specially for us! I love that she finds these gems.
Another tradition is gift giving among our larger Patty family. We're not able to be together very often for Christmas, but we still have an annual name drawing (thanks to our sister-in-law Kristi who's been caring for us in that way for years!!). This year, the rules changed a little bit, and we decided to mix it up a bit. There is no adult category vs kids...everyone was in the same pot! So in this case it was an aunt, Kristi to be exact, giving to her niece!
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| She gave Claire an awesome new mixer/immersion blender for her new home! |
Another tradition that we've started in our Patty family is an Elfster give draw. In this case, Caleb is the manager of the process, and puts our names into an app called Elfster, which draws the names secretly and sends them out to everyone. Each year we put a new "rule" into play regarding the type of gift to be given.
For this year, the rule was a book that's either meaningful to you, or that you think will be meaningful to the person you're giving to!
Tyler had Dave's name, so secretly shipped the books to me so I could pick them up last week in Chicago, put them in my suitcase, hide them upon arrival, wrap them, put them under the tree, and then hand them to Dave on Christmas morn!
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| Good book choice for dad, Tyler! |
It was a sweet morning with these two, as we gave and received gifts in honor of the greatest gift of all...our Savior.
Sending our love, greetings and wishes to all of you for a bright and merry Christmas wherever you are!
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