Christmas Eve

Well we did it. We had our very first Christmas Eve service. Thankfully we were able to use our normal location, Eli Pinney Elementary School, so we didn't have to redirect people. The evening started with a video reading from Luke 2 in four different languages, then a short kids pageant followed by three Christmas carols sung by children. Then the adults sang "O Holy Night". I spoke for just over 10 mins. about Christ being before time-Creator, stepping into time-Savior and being above time-King of Kings. After a short time of reflection we lit candles while singing, "Silent Night". When the service ended many people stuck around to have a cookie and connect. I met about a dozen new families and still wasn't able to meet every visitor. I don't know yet how many we had but with the children in the room and all the visitors, we were getting chairs out of the library for people to sit on!
Once we got home it was time to open sibling presents. Ever year we let the kids open the gifts they got for each other and for Melissa and I. They're always so excited to see the reactions of everyone receiving their gifts.
Then after that we headed over to our good friends, Jeff & Lynette Woda, where we met up with about a dozen other families, none of whom attend Encounter. Some we've known for a decade and others we met that night. We had a great time reconnecting.
Once home we rushed the kids to bed so we could fill and hide the stockings and put all the gifts under the tree. After Melissa did most of that we sat down and watched "White Christmas" until 2:00am.
8:45am came early but I'll tell you about that in the next entry.