Christmas Day 2009

It finally came and went. Another Christmas. For the Spoelstra's it was quite simple and quiet: no one coming into town and we didn't go out of town. It was nice not even leaving the house today.
We told the kids not to wake us up until 8:45am. They were allowed to hunt for their stockings before then though and Melissa and I giggled in bed when we heard their glee over the silly trinkets they found.
After making our morning cup of tea we began the relatively orderly process of present opening. The kids really got excited about their gifts and my sweetheart got a new laptop she was hoping for but didn't really think she'd get:-)
It was nice to talk to my parents and sister and basically laze around the house all day. Most of us stayed in our pj's all day.

BTW - I found out we has 196 at the Christmas Eve service.

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.

Home with the family over Christmas Break

Christmas break has begun and fun times with the kids too. Monday was a total family day. After the kids got their chores done we played a 3 1/2 hr. game RISK, they played outside in the snow, had lunch and supper together, watched a movie downstairs and made a ginger bread house. We even turned the phone off for most of the day:-)

Small Group Service Project

Our small group wanted to serve during the Christmas season and heard about an opportunity to help out the Salvation Army. I know when serving every little thing helps, but we had so much fun I almost feel like it was a social event instead. About a dozen of us met downtown and counted the money from the red kettles collected from all over the city. It was literally dozens of bank bags filled with thousands of ones, dozens of fives, tens and twenties and a few fifties. I think there was only one hundred dollar bill. The lady beside me found a check written for $1,500.00 though. Crazy! As you can see in the pics. we had a fun time:-)

Christmas lights, techno music and Amazing Grace

What says Merry Christmas more than listening to the age old classic hymn, "Amazing Grace", set to techno music, all the while being wowed by an electric light show of thousands of Christmas lights? Think I'm crazy...think again!
Follow this link and see:
http://vimeo.com/440842