Just a reminder on this 12th Night of Christmas that January 6th is the Epiphany – the celebration of when the Wisemen came.  Even if you don’t have the time, energy or motivation to celebrate with a big Epiphany party at least take a moment to read the account in the book of Matthew 2:1-12 and share with your family what gifts you would like to present to the Lord this year from your life.  It is regular discussions and devotions  like these that help build a firm foundation of faith in your children.

If you want to read about what we do I posted our traditions here.  Just today I also typed out the Indian Shrimp Curry Recipe for anyone interested – it is under the comment section of that post.

We are looking forward to another grand Epiphany Celebration.  I just might post pictures after the event, if you want to come back and see our party!

Here are the photos -

Christmas Greetings from the Lambdin Family

Christmas 2008

Dear Friends & Family…..

Since Christmas of 1987, the past 21 years, we have sent out a Christmas letter and family photo no later than December 1^st each year – with one exception in 1998, the year Grace was born on December 4^th and we wanted to include her birth announcement with our Christmas greetings  - so our annual letter/photo went out on December 10^th that year proclaiming – “It’s a school” (as Jim Elliot had been “birthed” that year), “It’s a Girl” and “It’s a Yahtzee!” (our 5^th girl – 5 of a kind).

Many of you have been recipients of our letter and photo for all 21 years – our dear family members, lifelong friends from Lakeview Assembly Church, youth group “kids”, and enduring friendships from our childhood, high school & college days.  Others have joined our circle in the following years through Brookside Christian & Jim Elliot Christian High Schools where we have been a part of 21 graduating classes (11 at BCHS & 10 at JECHS), ministering to and becoming close with well over 1000 students and their families as well as becoming friends with dozens of co-workers at both of these schools.  For more than 13 years as a consultant with Creative Memories we have been privileged to become dear friends to many wonderful people in our community as well as other consultants throughout the country which has added to and enriched our circle of friends in amazing ways.

We cherish each and every one of these friendships and relationships and thus have always enjoyed sending out our heartfelt greetings each year along with a letter updating everyone on our lives and of course a photo of our growing family.  That, along with receiving cards, letters and photos from many of you, became a treasured tradition in our lives that we all eagerly looked forward to each year.

As the time came to create our annual greeting and prepare to print photos, letters and labels and then purchase stamps for well over 500 recipients this year, we had to make a tough decision to change the way that we sent out our Christmas greetings.  Because you are all so dear to us and because our circle of loved ones is ever increasing through new students, staff and families we come to know and love each year at JECHS, we realized that before long we would be sending out letters to thousands each year and that we simply could not fit this into our budget.  Realistically this is a point we should have come to a few years back but we just kept holding off as we truly loved this Christmas tradition.

I must tell you that as I (Beth) wrestled with this inevitable decision, it effectively stymied me from doing anything other than sending out an “evite” and facebook invitation to our 18^th Annual Lambdin family Christmas party that we have always included in our Christmas mailing.  Honestly, I was even a bit depressed by the ending of this “era” so I just put off thinking about it or doing anything about it until now. As the season progressed many commented on how they had not yet received their Lambdin Christmas letter or wondered if they had been taken off our list which added to my dismay as well as coming to the realization that we really should do something, even if it didn’t look like it had for the past 21 years.

After that lengthy introduction….let me announce the beginning of a new era – the first Lambdin family electronic Christmas greeting which will go out via email (beth@bethlambdin.net) , facebook (Beth Lambdin facebook page) and be posted on my blog (www.bethlambdin.net).  Hopefully everyone who we have come to know and love throughout our lives will receive our heartfelt greeting, our family photos and our sincere wishes for a joyous Christmas season and a blessed New Year.  Perhaps even some who we have not been able to keep up with via “snail mail” through your various moves will now receive our yearly greetings. I know that through facebook I have recently renewed precious friendships with several old friends who I lost touch with over the years.

Here is our update on Lambdin life for 2008 –

Dan & Beth just celebrated 22 years of marriage on December 20^th and are still loving the Lord, loving their life and loving each other.

Dan just completed his 10^th year of teaching and being the Chaplain at Jim Elliot Christian High School.  Still is called to minister to teens through Christian education & still loves his dream job!  He returned to coaching high school this year as the junior varsity volleyball coach – both Amy & Kristen were on the team.  He also coached Joy’s 5 year old soccer team this fall.   

Beth continues to blend together Motherhood, Homeschooling, JECHS development director and CM consultant into one very full & blessed life.  However her passion is for motivating and influencing others to live a life of purpose and desires to someday be able to use her gifts and talents in speaking and writing in a more full time capacity. 

Michelle (19) just successfully completed her first semester at The Kings College (www.tkc.edu) in New York City.  After returning home last Christmas from Australia, she spent the spring semester being a nanny in Hawaii before returning home for a summer in Stockton where she worked as a personal assistant for a local realtor. 

She is loving her college experience and we are all living vicariously through her.  Dan & Beth were able to attend Parents Weekend this fall and both agreed we would love attending this college after sitting through a lecture on Constitutional law.  She lives right in the heart of Manhattan just steps from the Empire State Building (where the college is located in the bottom two levels).  If you are ever in New York, be sure to look her up!

Michelle continues to have a passion for the unborn and those who are slaves throughout the world.  We can see how the Lord is using her time at Kings to not only give her an outstanding education but to continue to ignite her passions and dreams.

 Amy turned 16 this fall and was blessed by some dear friends with a trip to New York to see “Wicked” on Broadway!  She spent five days in NYC touring and visiting Michelle but nothing compared to Broadway!  She says she will still take the country, cowboys and horses over city life any day.

She is a sophomore at Jim Elliot and plays volleyball, soccer and runs cross country.  She is involved in the Interact Service Club and on the Yearbook Staff. (a girl after her Moms heart!)  She is working on getting her drivers permit with the goal of being in the drivers seat by this summer.  (which means she will be looking for a great summer job to pay for the added car insurance needed – and so the freedom of childhood fades away!)

This year she has participated in a year long “Rite of Passage” being mentored by women of faith as she transitions into being a young adult who is responsible for her ongoing walk with the Lord.  We are proud of her strong faith.

Kristen is rounding the corner to being 15 and has begun her freshman year at JECHS.  She is doing very well academically and has made many friends in her class.  She too played volleyball and plans to join her sister on the soccer team in the spring. It has been a bigger transition to high school on “the Mom”, as Kristen was her “right hand” girl at home.  Her and Amy are the best of friends and enjoying making high school memories together during these years.

She loves taking photos and is the proud owner of a very nice camera that she purchased through hard earned babysitting money.  Kristen loves the Lord and is such a peaceful, diligent, joyful young lady who is a blessing to our entire family.

 Rebekah has joined the teenagers after her September birthday when she turned 13.  That makes a grand total of four teenagers in our family. (which by the way we are loving!)  She has been promoted to Moms top assistant and is quite capable of any and everything she is asked to do.  

Soccer is at the top of Rebekah’s list of things she loves which include cooking, emailing friends, planning parties and fashion.  She is a highly sought after babysitter and with her older sisters in school and consumed with sports and homework, she  gets most of the jobs (and her bank account bears the proof of this)  She continues her love for acting and just completed a stint in the show “Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat”. 

All too soon she will be joining her sisters at Jim Elliot and we are savoring every moment with her at home on a day to day basis.  Rebekah is a bright, talented & energetic young lady with lots of spirit. (and quite multi faceted as the photo depicts – playing football in a dress!)

Grace just turned 10 on December 4^th and we celebrated her “decade day” with a trip to the beach – horseback riding, lunch on the wharf, shopping, boogie boarding (yes you read that correctly – boogie boarding in December!) and dinner.  It was an amazing day.  Most of our birthday celebrations are backyard bashes with homemade cakes & old fashion party games …but for the 10^th we have a big birthday event.  She is sure to remember her special day forever.

Grace is still our sweet little girl – eager to please & always ready to give a great big hug.  She plays soccer and swims on the swim team.  During our homeschool co-op she took a public speaking class and was incredible.  She has quite a gift.  She is in “training” as the next babysitter and gets lots of practice with her younger siblings – Joy & Daniel.  We are enjoying her childhood.

Joy is just as her name says – a joy! She is an energetic, fun, lively almost six year old who brings us all great joy.  She is also a constant source of entertainment as she is always belting out show tunes at the top of her lungs or quoting from movies at the perfect time.  She loves to play “pollies” with her friends, hang out with her sisters and read books with her favorite adult friend – Sallee.  She is always willing to run errands with Mom and looks forward to dates with Dad.

Daniel is simply the center of the universe here at the Lambdin home.  He is just adorable and so full of life.  He loves playing any type of ball  - football, baseball, soccer, basketball – he is fascinated by it all! (and he throws everything even if it closely resembles a ball)  He is running all over the places, climbing up on top of things and cuddling on the couch as well as freely passing out kisses to everyone.  He is a delightful 20 month old baby boy.

As we shared last year in our Christmas letter, we are still pursuing adoption and are waiting somewhat impatiently for the Lord to bring us a baby brother to love, cherish and raise as a part of the Lambdin family.  We spent the better part of 2008 filling out forms, going through interviews, completing a home study and raising funds in hopes of being able to adopt a baby boy through a pregnancy crisis center.  Since we do not qualify for the California foster/adopt program due to the restrictions on only having two children per bedroom, we can only adopt privately or internationally.  We have been waiting since April for a mother to choose our family for their child.  It has been a bit discouraging although we continue to hope and pray for the Lord to bless us with another child.  We are considering going international although that would require us to raise another $20,000….which honestly is a bit daunting.  We hope that in our 2009 Christmas letter we will be able to introduce you to a new member of the Lambdin family.  Please pray for us as the Lord leads.

There is so much more we could share but this electronic Christmas greeting is already much to long.  For more than you may ever want to know about our lives – subscribe to Beth’s blog at www.bethlambdin.net by hitting the “Subscribe Here” button in the right hand corner of the blog site.  (You will have to confirm your subscription via email after you subscribe) 

We hope that you are enjoying a wonderful Christmas season – we have loved hearing from many of you through Christmas greetings both electronic and in the mail and what a joy it was to see so many at our annual Christmas Open House.  Please know that we love you, think of you often and pray for you throughout the year.  You all hold a special place in our hearts and lives.

Blessings,

The Lambdins

As I shared at Christmas we always make a point to connect the birth of Christ and that celebration to His ultimate purpose – His death & resurrection. At Christmas the first ornament we put on the tree is a nail to remind us of this, as well as reading “The Tale of Three Trees”. (You can read about that here)

One of the Christmas decorations we leave up through Good Friday in our in our home is a wonderful stamped series of pictures. (created for us on our 15th anniversary by our dear life long friend – Rachel Fichtner)

As you can see it is a Christmas tree that is slowly losing all its decorations and branches until it is completely dead.  The final picture has the tree looking like a cross and the words on it say – “When all the glitter is gone…only one truth still remains.”

This year we got a new Christmas item that we left displayed in our kitchen.  It is a beautiful red platter that my little sis – Cynthia gave us that says” “May the spirit of Christmas be forever in your heart” I served the hot cross buns on that platter yesterday. (A new tradition and connection is begun!)

Another very neat thing that we do is to take our Christmas tree at the end of that season (After Epiphany on January 6) and my dear darling hubby strips of the branches and makes the trunk into a cross.  For many years we used it as the center of our backyard Easter sunrise service that we held. (For the last nine years we have attended our awesome city wide service down by the waterfront that includes dozens of churches coming together to celebrate!) Now we simply have it in our backyard as a year long reminder of the cross and its power. Perhaps I will decorate it with flowers tomorrow since the weather report is saying it will be warm enough to have our Easter brunch outside!

While many people are taking down the tree the day after Christmas…we continue to celebrate. You see, Christmas Day is actually the first day of the 12 days of Christmas. (I bet you thought the 12 days of Christmas were before Christmas)  The last day of Christmas is actually on January 6 which is called the Epiphany.

Epiphany is the celebration of when the wisemen came to see Jesus and bring Him gifts. Did you know that the wisemen did not visit the baby in the manger but rather a small child, under the age of two in his home?  (and actually no where does it say there were three wisemen…just three gifts)

I grew up celebrating the Epiphany and Dan and I have celebrated it throughout our married life. It is always something to look forward to after the excitement of Christmas and it is another opportunity for us to pass on a firm foundation of faith to our children through a fun celebration. (And it is clear from the Old Testament that God loves a feast, party, celebration – especially those that are a remembrance of great things He has done!)

We always serve Shrimp Curry over rice for dinner – as the wisemen came from the East and this is an East Indian meal.  It is unusual but delicious!  The spicy taste of the curry sauce combined with a multitude of condiments is tasty!  We have had many people over throughout the years to celebrate the Epiphany and although it looks and sounds strange to them – most leav loving this dish. (In fact my niece Janessa recently told me it was her all time favorite meal!)  Because we only serve this once a year – it becomes very special and desired!

We decorate the table with the wisemen and with symbols of the three gifts – gold, frankincense and myrrh.  This year we had new wisemen on our table that Michelle had brought over from Barcelona, Spain -  where the Epiphany is actually their gift giving time instead of Christmas.

Of course since it is the 12th day of Christmas we use all the Christmas china for one final time before it goes back into storage for another year. And we almost always share our celebration with friends or family members.  This year, the Meiers – Dan’s sisters family joined us for the Epiphany!

After dinner we have an Epiphany service. It is always a great time of discussion and growth.  Here is the outline for our service that we wrote over a decade ago -

• Prayer
• What is Epiphany?
• Read Matthew 2:1-12
• Explanation of the gifts
• Sing – “We three Kings”

 We three Kings of Orient are, Bearing gifts we  traverse afar Field & Fountain, Moor and Mountain, Following Yonder Star 

REFRAIN – O Star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright, Westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to Thy perfect light

Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain, Gold I bring to crown Him again, King forever, ceasing never Over us all to reign.  REFRAIN

 Frankincense to offer have I, Incense owns a Deity nigh; Prayer & praising all men raising, Worship Him, God on high  REFRAIN Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume, Breathes a life of gathering gloom; sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, Sealed in the stone cold tomb.  REFRAIN Glorious now behold Him arise, King & God & Sacrifice; Alleluia, Alleluia! Sounds through the earth and skies.  REFRAIN

• Questions & Thoughts

1.  How can we follow the “light of Jesus” (like the wiseman followed the star) everyday in our lives?
2. What kind of gifts can we give to Jesus?

• Think about these things :

1. Is Jesus a true King in your hearts? (do you revere Him, honor Him & desire to know Him and be known by Him?)
2. Do you worship Jesus as your God everyday? ( through prayer & praise, obedience & service?)
3. Is Jesus your Savior? Have you asked Him into your heart? Who in your life needs to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ?

• Worship Songs –

Come let us worship & bow down

Let us kneel before the Lord, our God, our maker. For He is our God & we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand and the sheep of His hand.

O Lord Here am I,

O Lord Here am I, yes here am I

And I offer my body as a living sacrifice, Holy & acceptable to you.

O come let us adore You

We give you all the glory

For You alone are worthy

• Prayer

 After our service we close the evening with the “King’s Cake” – a yummy cake with an almond hidden inside of it.  The tradition is that whomever gets the almond must host the party the next year!  Michelle made us the most yummy from scratch chocolate cake with mocha icing – apparently she was the birthday cake maker at he YWAM DTS in Australia so she leaned how to make cakes from scratch.  Oh my! Was it ever melt in you mouth deeeeeeeeeelicious! 

Kristen got the almond!  Some day in the future I see this as a very fun thing for all the kids and their families to do together – switching homes from year to year with whoever gets the almond! (yes…I am dreaming that most will live close to each other & to us!)

I encourage you all to consider starting an Epiphany tradition of your own!

Our New Years traditions have varied over the years.  In recent years we have gone down to Mexico with an organization called Club Dust (www.clubdust.org) and helped build homes for the poor!  This is something we want to continue to do on a regular basis as we are able to raise the funds.  It is so meaningful and this organization is very family friendly – we have taken the entire family – even Joy when she was only two! We have even had friends & family join us.  Something you should all think about doing – what a great way to start off a year. (and an easy way to expose your children to the importance of missions)

The families we build for go from this…..

….To this! Praise the Lord!

Our happy “adopted” family in their new home!

On years we are home we have done various things from progressive parties with friends, “Nerts ’til it Hurts” card parties or just staying home in front of the fire and playing games. 

This year Dan, Michelle and I went to the wedding of a dear friend and former student, Lisa Burruel.  It was a lovely evening celebrating a beautiful Christian young couple who waited for the right person and for the Lord’s will.  A wonderful testimony for many and a role model for single young people who are getting impatient about getting married.  It is worth waiting for!

We arrived home by 10pm in time to celebrate the New Year with my Mom (aka: Granny) and the kids.  We always eat cheese fondue for dinner and chocolate fondue for dessert on New Years Eve – a real treat! Another tradition is to ring in the New Year watching the ball drop at Times Square (someday I dream to be there “live”) with sparkling cider toasts, hugs & kisses and going out on the front porch to scream “Happy New Year!”

Happy New Year to each of you!

After six months in Australia, Spain and Africa…my eldest sweet daughter arrived home on December 16.  It was so very wonderful to have her home with us during the holidays.  We only had her here for three weeks before she headed off to Hawaii to work for some dear friends of ours – the Elliott’s for 5 months, but we enjoyed every moment. These pictures says it all the moment she arrived home!

She was so excited to share with us her many experiences during her six months with Youth With a Mission. It was a life changing and growing time in her life.  We are so very proud of Michelle!  During her time home she hosted a gathering for all her supporters where she had foods prepared from the countries she was in, a slide show of her many photo’s and she shared a presentation about her experience.  We are so grateful to be surrounded by friends & family who love and support our children.

Christmas Day at the Lambdins is very relaxed and kick back.  We enjoy staying home with our immediate family…but welcome any & everyone who may want to join us! 

Mom & Dad have filled the stockings to the brim and the girls have filled our stockings as well.  After making some coffee the first thing we do is empty our stockings one at a time and look at all our gift & goodies. The girls are always so sweet and generous to us.  We can always count on getting a Starbucks card and our favorite candy! (Dark Chocolate covered pretzels for me and Rocky Road candy for Dan) Then there is usually a much desired gift for each of us.   We fill their stockings with some traditional items – clementines, hair things, lip gloss, nylons and their favorite candy.  Occasionaly there are a few other things added to that mix.

Then it is time to reveal who their Secret Sister has been!

Let me stop here and unveil the new name we decided upon for our Secret Sister tradition.  We got so many wonderful ideas from all of you – in fact I received over 50 responses to that blog post.  After much discussion the girls and I agreed on………….. (drum roll please!)

The Secret Sisters and the Undercover Brother!

We all had so much fun saying that throughout the Christmas season of course you have to say it with a little bounce and accent that I can’t quite convey in writing.  But it “stuck” very easily and has already become our new name. (and next Christmas we hope it is the “Undercover Brothers“!)

The girls love revealing who they had and they each share from their heart how much they love and care for that sibling and what makes them special. It is a very heartwarming and uplifting time.  Besides their words of affirmation if they were able they get them a gift according to their ability.  The squeels of delight and hugs that we here throughout the openig of gifts is delightful. 

We all enjoy looking over our gifts as we eat some gooey cinnamon rolls and drink our coffee.  The rest of the day is spent kicking back, relaxing and enjoying the day.  We sit down late in the afternoon to our all time favorite Christmas meal:

• London Broil marinated in teriyaki sauce
• Twice Baked Potatoes
• Vegetables
• Rolls
• Salad
• Condiments - pickles & olives
• Ice Tea & Sparkling Cider

It is simply delicious. A few hours later we are ready for dessert options – Derby Pie with whip cream, Pecan Pie ala-mode or a variety of Christmas cookies.  We finish the day with a Christmas Day devotion and worship time honoring the birth of Christ! 

During our family advent services we talk a lot about why Jesus came to the earth.  One of those reasons is that He came to serve others.  This year we began something that will be sure to become our newest family tradition!

Matthew 20:28   “Just as the Son of Man did  not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life  a ransom for many.”

Before opening our gifts and before enjoying our gooey cinnamon rolls with piping hot coffee, we all decided that we wanted to get up in the morning with our mind focused completely on others – especially those others who are hungry, hurting & homeless.  So on Christmas morning (not too early because we are not early risers), we got up and made a large container of hot chocolate and another of coffee.  We gathered together all the over abundance of goodies we had in the house – cookies, candy, crackers, cup cakes, fudge – and we put on jackets & sweatshirts over our jammies, jumped in our 15 passenger van and headed downtown to the freeway overpass where many of our cities homeless are located.

On the way we sang Christmas carols while we planned out how we would serve out of the side of the van.  As soon as we pulled up and opened the doors, people started seeing the coffee cups being passed out and began lining up by the van. We all enjoyed passing out the hot drinks and the goodies as we wished them all a very Merry Christmas. Everyone was so appreciative and you could see their faces light up as they drank their coffee or cocoa and clutched their cookie or piece of candy.

One man commented – “It’s the little things in life that make all the difference!”  How wonderful to be so very thankful for something in the midst of hard times.  We could all take a lesson from that.

After we ran out of supplies, we headed back home with joy in our hearts that we were able to make a difference in the lives of almost 100 people on a day set aside to celebrate Jesus.  Perhaps we were actually serving the Lord Himself!

Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. `For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’  ”Then the righteous will answer Him, `Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? `And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?  `When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ “The King will answer and say to them, `Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.

Matthew 25 35-40

Christmas Eve is the essence of the Christmas story.  In the stillness of the night in a cave in Bethleham, Mary gave birth to a son with only her husband Joseph by her side.  It was a moment in time that changed the course of history but that night I picture it as a moment of majesty as they gazed in awe at this precious and perfect baby who was…the Son of God!  What amazement they must have felt. What wonder. What awe. I want to feel that same way on Christmas Eve. Our evening begins with a candlelit dinner on our fine Christmas china.  We serve a fancy Parisian salad with candied pecans added to it, clam chowder (from the place that makes the all time BEST clam chowder in the world – Buds Seafood Restaurant) and sour dough bread. Our goblets are sparkling with cider and soft Christmas music is played in the background. 

 We are all dressed up in our Christmas best…Daniel even wore his first tie!  

After dinner we head out to a church service at Lincoln Presbyterian Church. (our home church does not have a Christmas eve service so this has been our Christmas Eve church for 16 years – to me going to church on the most holy of holy nights is a MUST!)  The service is always wonderful ending with a candlelight singing of “Silent Night”.  It is the type of moment where you feel the sweet soft Spirit of God in your heart.

We then always go to look at the larger than life nativity that is in front of Alex G Spanos home.  It is magnificent and majestic! We drive home down Christmas Tree Lane (aka – Meadow Dr) and look at all the Christmas lights.

At home we have our family Advent devotional service and serve Christmas cookies, cream puffs, egg nog & coffee. 

Our evening concludes with the opening of the Christmas jammies!  Every year we purchase the girls a pair of Pajamas to open on Christmas Eve.  Even though they know what the gift will be – it does not lesson their excitement as they line up on the couch to open their presents. 

After getting in their jammies we take our traditional stocking photos and then settle in to watch a movie. (For years it was “It’s a Wonderful Life” but this year it was the newly released “The Nativity” – which will now become the first choice.)

For the past several years, I have also attended Midnight Mass at the Cathedral of Annunciation.  A few of the older girls, who can stay up that late always join me. This year it was Michelle, Amy & Kristen.  I can’t tell you how much I love doing this.  Though I was not raised Catholic, my dear darling husband was, and I have a respect for many of the Catholic traditions, liturgy and their strong unwavering pro life position.

The incredibly beautiful and ornate cathedral, the dimmed lights, the smell of incense, the Christmas greenery, the quiet reverence and the inspiring music all come together in the wee hours of the morning to create that mystical moment of awe and wonder that I want to feel and experience on Christmas Eve. The majesty of the King of Kings – the Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace – the Son of God – Jesus Christ – my Lord, my Savior, my Redeemer and my Friend.

The Cathedral on December 20,1986 – my wedding day

Christmas Caroling – is my favorite Christmas tradition!  I love Christmas. I love music. I love singing about Jesus. 

We have been going Christmas caroling as a family for about 10 years.  We usually head out just as it is getting dark all decked out in our warm & festive Christmas attire.  It is a rare thing (in fact perhaps never) that we are not accompanied by friends or family who join us for this evening of fun.  After caroling to our neighbors, we jump in the van and begin going to the many families on our list to carol to.  We have usually carefully mapped out a plan earlier in the day as to where we are going.  While the stops vary from year to year – some things always remain the same:

• We always stop at Starbucks at some point during the evening and get coffee & cocoa – we also carol for all those in Starbucks!
• We have some regular families that have personally requested an “encore” performance each year – Gloria Grupe, the Krahmers & their parents the Cox’s (who ALWAYS sing along with us – it is GREAT!), Granny Ann, the Hales & the Wards.
• We try to think of those in need – the sick, hurting or elderly and make an effort to carol at their homes.
• We always begin with “Here we come a caroling”     “Here we come a caroling among the leaves so green and here we come a wandering so fair to be seen. Love & Joy come to you and to you good Christmas too, And God bless you & send you a Happy New Year and God send you a happy New Year!”
• We sing two carols (all the verses!) and end with “We wish you a Merry Christmas!
• The last several years we have ended our evening at our dear friends, the Moore’s where we have enjoyed hot cocoa & goodies while staying up fellowshipping until the wee hours of the morning.  Good times!

For the first time this year we were able to sing in two part harmony after I had taught a homeschool co-op choir class and Kristen, Rebekah & Grace learned how to sing in parts.  I can’t wait for the day when we can sing all the carols in 4-part harmony – my dream! 

This year we were joined by Lucas Sherman & DJ Moore – 5th grade boys of close family friends.  They added a little spark & energy to the evening as only boys do.  We don’t have any photos of this year’s caroling (in fact I have never taken pictures of this my favorite event!)…but here is a previous photo (2003)  taken by one of our friends, so you can “picture” us on a Christmas Caroling night.