Thursday, December 26, 2013

Christmas 2013 - Part 1

December 23 - Christmas Eve Eve -

I worked for about 1/2 a day and when I got home we all went outside and played for a bit. Jaxen had so much fun! These pictures are so sweet….They capture Jaxen so well!

Playing in the leaves...






Dancing with dad…


Riding the bike…



The rest of the evening was spent running errands (without Jaxen) to finish getting ready for Christmas. Nik and I had so much fun hanging out by ourselves - And we even got to spend some Christmas money we received on new clothes and shoes!


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Christmas Eve -

I had the day off! It started out with some baking and laundry. Seriously, laundry was one of the top items on my list for the day. (And by mid-afternoon, all the laundry baskets were empty!) We ran to the store for some last minute stocking stuffers for Jaxen and then we were finally done with our shopping.

That afternoon Nik, Jaxen and I attended a Christmas Eve Service at my work church (3pm) and then went to our church where we held a Christmas Eve Service at 6pm. Two services...very different from each other, but both very meaningful. At my work-church, it was nice to be in service together as a family (and not be in charge of anything). It was beautiful - with carols, the Christmas story and even candlelight at the end!

Then at our church, Nik was in charge of the service and he decided to make it a Come-and-Go Reflection and Communion Service. As people entered, I handed them a paper that included some thoughts on communion, some reflection questions and some scripture. Each family could sit together in the sanctuary and have some discussion/reflection time. Then, when they were ready, Nik would serve them communion. They could stay as long or short as they wanted. It was a meaningful time for families to share in communion together.

After church, we were invited to a friends house for a party! We did not stay long though, Jaxen was exhausted (he only took a 1 hour nap). So we went home fairly early, put him in bed and stayed up talking, laughing, drinking hot chocolate, and wrapping presents with our neighbors.

Since we were not spending Christmas with any of our family...our neighbors invited us to spend the day with them….


Christmas 2013 - Part 2…coming soon!



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