Christmas 2005 ~

Christmas 2005 ~ We had a great Christmas.  Actually, a festive season seems to kick off for us each year right after Halloween.  Grant's Birthday is November 3rd; we start out slow in the month of November until Thanksgiving, and then it is go, go go for our family.  Kate's Birthday is December 2nd, Christmas festivities are in full swing, Dave's Birthday is December 22nd, Christmas, New Year's, Dominic's Birthday on January 4th and our Anniversary on January 11th seems to round it all out.  That is not even mentioning my extended family's Birthdays and Anniversaries in January.  Oh, and we can't forget our Husky, Cleo. She and Dominic share a Birthday. She turned 5 this year on January 4th. 

It is a busy, but wonderful time of year.  We took the kids to see Santa right away in early December. The Base put on a Christmas carnival of sorts with Santa, crafts storytelling and candy.  We got the tree and had it up by the 2nd weekend in December. Baking, wrapping and watching Christmas movies filled the house the entire Season.  The kids favorite Christmas movie this year was, "The Polar Express".  Kate had lots of Christmas activities with her Preschool this year.  We all went on a field trip to the Nene Valley Railway where Thomas the Train lives.  We took the "Santa Express" train ride, met Santa, had mince pie and cider or tea.  The next day  Kate had her school play ;and finally, her school party. 

Dave and I had various activities with our respective groups; my Bible Study Woman's Group party, etc.  Finally, Christmas Eve:  a  couple from Kate's school invited us to their church for a Christmas Eve service. It was really neat.  It was a new experience to see a British Christmas service. It was just a little different from ours. They celebrate with something called a Christingle.  It's basically a candlelight service, but instead of candles, the children hold Christingles:  It is a representation of what Jesus did for us and what His love means.  A Christingle is an orange (represents the world), they stick a candle in top (Jesus is the light of the world), tie a red ribbon around the center (Jesus’ blood He shed for the world), put four toothpicks in it in different directions ( the 4 seasons), and attach candy to the 4 toothpicks ( the sweets, or blessings, of life).  After the sermon, the children went up and got a Christingle and did a candlelit service with it.  It was really neat.   The British also do a tradition where they stick “crackers” in their tree. They are little paper things that pop and break apart when you pull them revealing a treat inside.

After that service, we went to our Christmas Eve service on Base.  Dave is Worship Band leader so we sang songs and had a candlelight service there.  We went home, got some Chinese carryout (may become a new tradition for us) and got settled in.  We let the kids each open jammies from their "Nana and Popsie" and 1 gift apiece form us. We read the "Night Before Christmas" and the true Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke.  Then, off to bed they went.

Christmas Day was so peaceful. We slept in, opened gifts until 4 pm and spent the rest of the day playing with our new "toys".  We had breakfast for dinner and stayed in our jammies all day. It was really nice.  I hope you all had a great Christmas Season 2005.  To family and friends: we love you and hope you can all visit soon!

To see Christmas 2005 photos, click here.