Family Christmas

Thank you for coming Alexander family (Sue, Randy, Brittany and Brayden)

and making our Christmas merry and bright! xox

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

is one of our favourite Christmas carols.

Written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who in 1861 suffered a very personal tragedy which inspired this beautiful song. An unusual heat wave in Massachusetts prompted Longfellow's wife, Fanny, to trim the heavy locks of their seven year old daughter, Edith. Fanny decided to preserve little Edie's curls in an envelope. As she heated wax to seal it, hot drops fell unnoticed onto her dress and caught on fire. Fanny rushed into Longfellow's study. Longfellow first tried to extinguish the flames with a rug, and when that failed he threw his body onto his wife, severely burning his face, arms and hands. Fanny Longfellow died the next morning. Fanny was buried three days later on their 18th wedding anniversary. Too ill from his burns and grief, Henry did not attend her funeral. (Hence Longfellow's trademark full beard arose from his inability to shave after this tragedy.)

This song is actually a love song—our love song and everyone's love song—full of peace and hope.

Our favourite lines from the song are these two verses:

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth," I said;
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep!
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men!"

With God anything is possible. Even happiness and peace in the worst situations is possible.

Happy Christmas week!

Merry Christmas

GENESIS 1:1-5, 26-27

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day" and the darkness "night." ... God said, "Let Us make human beings in Our image, to be like Us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground." So God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.

*****

In the beginning is when the greatest story ever told begins.

The story of Christmas begins in the beginning—because Christmas is about Jesus and Jesus' love, which has been looking to hold you close since the very beginning of time.

Jesus was before time, His voice hovering over the depths of the darkness like a mother eagle hovers over her young. Jesus was there when the voice of God breathed wonder into the darkness: "Let there be light..."

And just the sound of God's voice made light dance into being, all brightness shattering the dark.

"Let there be land." And at the music of His voice, mountains roared and raised up through the oceans. And God said, "Let there be living plants, and let there be lights in the heavens, and let there be living beasts."

And at the wonder of His voice, leaves unfurled and stars spun happy and elephants trumpeted praise.

But what about when God dreamed up the very best at the very last? God did not say, "Let there be..." as He had for everything else. When He dreamed of a face like yours, His voice filled with the gentlest love, and He smiled. "Let Us make human beings..."

God the Father gathered close with God the Son, Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit, and all the glory of the Trinity gathered close when They imagined the masterpiece of you. And God in three persons scooped a handful of dust together and knelt down, and together They kissed warm life into God's children with the breath of His love.

The whole world was made by God's word. But God's children alone were made by all of God's love. You were formed by a huddle of holy hearts.

You are made of both the dust of this earth and the happiness of highest heaven. You are made of both flesh and spirit, and you are made of two worlds longing forever with Jesus.

No matter what happens in the world, the truth is always this: you were formed by Love... for love.

You were formed to have front-row seats to waves hugging the shore, to trees touching the sky, to stars falling across the night—the whole of the universe falling in love with God.

Your eyes were formed to be awed by the art of every wonder-laced snowflake and the carving of every swirl of frost and the sculpting of every cresting snowdrift. And then to see it—God's own signature in the corner of everything. God the artist who imagined and made the masterpiece of this world. Your mind was formed to be wowed by God. Wowed by His uncontainable, unending, unconditional, unbeatable, unfailing, unwrappable love.

You could unwrap the wow today just by going to the window. By going to the front door, to the park, to the backyard, or to the top of the highest hill you can find—standing there and staring and being wowed by the shape of the clouds or the colour of the sky or the size of the sun when you hold up your hands. You could unwrap the wow right now.

And the greatest gift we can give back to our great God is to let His love make us glad.

The whole blue marble of the world spins happy right now with the gladness of His love.

Unwrapping the Greatest Gift, Ann Voskamp

Christmas joy to you and yours.

Love, Sandi, Tim and Huffy the Hedgehog

Happy Birthday to Tim

THROUGH THE YEARS...

Toddler Stage (with twin sister, Tessa).

Ski Racing Stage.

Awkward Stage.

Beatnik Stage.

Wanderlust Stage.

Heart Throb Stage.

Ski Racing Stage 2.

Marlboro Man Stage.

Don Johnson Stage.

Richard Gere Stage.

Starting To Look Like Mum Stage.

Best Thing I Ever Did Stage.

Perfectly Aged Stage.

Happy Birthday my love!

I am so thankful you were born sixty-two years ago. I wake up every single day, smile and thank God for letting me walk through this life with you. You're perfect to me and for me in every way. I love the big, random hugs and kisses you give me when I'm least expecting it. I love the kindness that shines out of those beautiful, green eyes of yours and how devoted you are to me and so many others. I love your sense of humour and how you can always get me to smile and laugh, even when I'm being a grumpster. You still make me weak in the knees with your English charm and dreamy good looks. I love that you never leave to go anywhere without saying, "I love you sweetie" as your final words. You're simply my hero in more ways I can explain. I love this life with you and miss you as soon as you step out of the door to go skiing, biking, hiking, golfing... even when you step out of the room. I love that we're hopelessly in love after all these years. What I really want to say my darling is...

... your birthday is the happiest day of my life. I love you forever. Sandi xoxoxoxo