Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning at the Snyders! It's been a full morning with presents for the kids. And we're not even done yet! Ethan saw the presents this morning but wasn't very curious about them. First he watched Curious George, then he ate breakfast. By that time, I had to feed Kate, then get everybody ready for Christmas Day mass at the Catholic church my parents attend while here. By 11:45 am we were back home and ready to open up the gifts. But once he found what he really wanted, he didn't want to open any more gifts! After lunch we managed to get him to open a few more, but not all of them! Right now, Ethan is taking his afternoon nap and hopefully we'll finish the last round of presents.

It's easy to lose sight of the real meaning of Christmas. Just last night, I fell victim to this. Preparing a special dinner, taking care of a baby, and making sure family members are comfortable is a lot of work! I wasn't able to get as much preparation done as I had hoped, and so come 4pm I was spent, stressed, and a little mad to be quite honest! My chocolate trifle wasn't done, dinner wasn't started, and plans for Christmas Eve services had to be cancelled because of a fussy baby. I was able to sneak away for 15 minutes and decompress, when I realized I was having a Martha and Mary moment. You know the story, right? It can be found in the gospel of Luke, Chapter 10, verses 38-42:

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

Oh, how I am Martha! There's nothing wrong with what she was doing. After all, opening your home to people is a good thing. But it started to get in the way of what was truly important--the gift that God gave to us through His Son. I pray next year, I will remember the lesson Jesus taught Martha.

Speaking of lessons...last night, David read the story of Christmas one more time to Ethan. As I was down the hallway, I heard him asking Ethan to choose one gift to give to the baby Jesus. He chose this little truck. Perhaps this will be the start of one of many Christmas traditions in our home. Though this truck isn't the most precious of posessions to Ethan, perhaps it will remind us that God gave us His most precious "gift": His son.