The young man opening his last gift is my my 19 year old nephew Andrew. He is trying really hard not to show his disappointment. All he wanted for Christmas was an IPod Nano. And at this point he figures that is not going to happen because the last gift is from grandma who gives socks every year. I mean what else would Grandma give?? Well the socks were in the other room and, yes, we all went in together and there is a black metallic IPod Nano in the gift bag. The explosion of happiness that followed was heartwarming. The little blond sweetie in the foreground is my 7 month old great nephew Oliver, Andrew's little boy. Oliver was in sensory overload all day. Bows, shiny paper and toys oh my. He couldn't grab stuff fast enough. But what he seemed to enjoy the most, other than pulling Molly's ears, was some white cotton ribbon and a piece of cardboard. Even with all the blowing snow our family was fortunate to be able to get together. My brother has a 4x4 Ford and he went and got Dan and Aubree. A good time was had by all, we laughed ourselves silly, ate too much, watched Indiana Jones Raiders Of the Lost Ark. We got into a discussion of the cup, as Indy says, "This looks like the cup of a carpenter."
Aubree didn't really know what he was talking about. When we explained that the carpenter Indy was referring to was Jesus her face lit up and she said the movie made sense now. Then she said something I found very interesting. She said, "Jesus is everywhere." I smiled and told her yep He is always with us, that He is here right now and laughing just as hard as we are at Oliver's antics. At some point during this wonderful day I realized that Jesus is the glow we feel when we are surrounded by those we love whether we are celebrating Christmas or an impromptu dinner on a Tuesday night.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!