Christmas Gatherings

Rob and I had three family gatherings in the last 5 days - every other day an opportunity to spend time with family, having fun, fellowship and plenty of food!

Christmas Eve was the day for my family to get together. Lisa is home for the holidays, and it is so good to see her again. The group of us numbers 9 now, and Erik & Alex were both in the thick of things, when it comes to gifts!

We have a lot of fun with the gift exchange.   Rarely would we put two items into one package, so this results in a big pile of gifts.  Lisa gets very creative with her wrapping paper...hence a "The Messenger" ensconced box below...and the Mindy Kitty?  She loves boxes, and as I was preparing to wrap gifts, I got out a number of boxes to use, so she contributed by checking them out for me :)

Opening some of the gifts...Erik was eager to check things out too!

On Boxing Day, we met at Rich & Cher's with Rob's family.  Good times - laughter and discussion, the gift exchange, cuddling baby Matthew, some singing, and food galore!

Yesterday we had a big Turkey Dinner with my Mom's family.  Oma and her children, grand-children and great-grand-children.   We are a total of 61 people now, and almost everyone was there!  We rent RCS for this event, so there is plenty of room for the kids to run around.

Rob and I are so thankful for our families, and for God's faithfulness, which we can see in our families.  Truly, He is good!  As we consider what Christmas is really about - commemorating the birth of our Saviour - what a marvel this really is - that the Son took on human form - to accomplish salvation for sinners.  GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST!