We had a wonderful Christmas this year (as we do every year). We celebrated it on Christmas Eve. Austin and Jonathan wanted to wake up at 5 a.m. to open presents, but the rest of us weren’t so excited about that idea. :) Sleeping in on Christmas morning wasn’t right, either. So we gathered in the family room to open presents at 7:30 that morning.It’s a tradition in our family for the youngest reader to read the Christmas story (Luke 2) before opening gifts. This year, Austin and Jonathan took turns reading it together.

Wesley, the Apple-loving geek in our family, got two great computer books.

Austin, the gardener in our family, got a banana growing kit. On the kit, we read that the banana is the world’s largest herb. Hmm. Sounds suspicious. I’ve never heard of that before! Austin is growing this exotic plant on my bedroom windowsill, because it will get the most sun there. :)

I was thrilled to receive a Life is good running shirt that says “gotta run”, as well as some cute mittens!

Jonathan got a cool LEGO set. He has played with it for hours on end!

Mom made a lovely Christmas dinner, and we watched It’s A Wonderful Life that night.

The next day after church, we spent some time with our Noble relatives at their home. I enjoyed our time so much!

At dinner, we pulled apart Christmas crackers, and inside were little hats!

We played cards after dinner…

…and that evening we sang Christmas hymns. It was wonderful!

We had a great time at their home, and we stayed the next day too, which was Austin’s 13th birthday. The Nobles set up a huge surprise treasure hunt for Austin. It was the neatest treasure hunt I’ve every seen! But I’ll save that for my next post, so stay tuned! :) We did indeed have a very merry Christmas!

This is my favorite Christmas hymn. I love the words; it is so Christ-centered. Consider the 6th verse, which says that although Christ came to the world as a baby, He will one day “gather all the nations to Him”, and every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Christ the Lord (Philippians 2:10-11). Like the refrain from this hymn, let us come and worship Christ the King this Christmas and forever. Please read these words. I hope you’re encouraged as we near Christmas day. Have a very merry Christmas, and to God be the glory!

Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o’er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation’s story
Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.

Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.

Shepherds, in the field abiding,
Watching o’er your flocks by night,
God with us is now residing;
Yonder shines the infant light:

Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.

Sages, leave your contemplations,
Brighter visions beam afar;
Seek the great Desire of nations;
Ye have seen His natal star.

Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.

Saints, before the altar bending,
Watching long in hope and fear;
Suddenly the Lord, descending,
In His temple shall appear.

Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.

Sinners, wrung with true repentance,
Doomed for guilt to endless pains,
Justice now revokes the sentence,
Mercy calls you; break your chains.

Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.

Though an Infant now we view Him,
He shall fill His Father’s throne,
Gather all the nations to Him;
Every knee shall then bow down:

Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.

All creation, join in praising
God, the Father, Spirit, Son,
Evermore your voices raising
To th’eternal Three in One.

Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.

Some dear friends of ours recently gave us several free tickets to Silver Dollar City, an amusement park near Branson. We’ve been there once before, and were thrilled to receive some tickets! Daddy took part of the day off work, and so our whole family was able to go. My wise parents decided to go on a Thursday to avoid the large crowds of people who come on Fridays and on the weekends. As a result, we didn’t have to wait in line for rides for more than a few minutes, and there weren’t many people.  It was a blast, and I got some pictures from our time!

Silver Dollar City has absolutely the cutest little shops. We enjoyed the rides first because it was still relatively warm and light outside.

On this ride, you float on little boats and shoot at targets as you go by.

Wesley got the high score with several hundred thousand points.

Austin and Jonathan got the front seats on this roller coaster!

When it comes to rides, Wesley and I are the thrill-seekers. :) Silver Dollar City has several pretty big roller coasters, so we alternated with going on the big rides and others we could do as a family.

Daddy, Wesley, and I rode the Powder Keg. I read somewhere that it goes from 0 to 53 mph in less than three seconds! Here we are just taking off.

This roller coaster was my favorite!

It’s called Wildfire, and it has five loops!

Who could resist the temptation??? My brothers couldn’t, at least! :)

Mom and Daddy rode a teacup together.

Wesley and I rather overdid the “spinning factor” on ours. I was quite dizzy by the end! :)

When it got dark and cold outside, we watched two shows.

One was a living nativity…

…and the other was Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. It was one of my highlights, and so well done!

It was fun to walk around and enjoy the lights and shops!

Most of the stores were beautifully decorated like this one.

Family picture.

A highlight for everyone was watching the Christmas tree. Its lights change color in sync with Christmas music. It’s beautiful!

It was a lovely day, and I enjoyed making memories together as a family!