Christmas Eve at the Jarvis house is a really big deal. It’s when we have our huge fondue feast, read and talk about the birth of Jesus, share our favorite parts of the past year, and open presents. Everything that people traditionally would do on Christmas Day. What can I say? We kinda march to our own drum…
Last night was magical. My very favorite Christmas as a mom. We had a wonderful time around our three fondue pots, cooking various meats in the hot oil, dipping bread in the cheese, accompanied by our sparkling cider. Dinner takes a good, long time because you have to wait for it as it’s cooking in front of you. So it fosters a great time of talking and laughing and enjoying each other’s company. And because we only do it once a year, it tastes incredibly delicious. A feast we wait 364 days to taste each year.
After filling our bellies past the point of comfort, we all head to the kitchen to clean up the huge mess we’ve created. And then it’s time to gather in the family room by the Christmas tree to read the Christmas story. You would think that this could get old and repetitive. But each year someone else reads it. This year it was Mark and he would stop and ask questions to invoke thought on different aspects of the story, to involve our hearts and minds as we thought from a different perspective what it must have been like for each of the characters in the story. It brought back the awe factor.
Each of us then took turns to share what meant the most to us the past year. It was a big year for the Jarvi. Good stuff and painful stuff. And this was the incredible thing. Each one shared deeply from their heart, most with tears, the thankfulness to each and for each other, for God’s amazing work and forgiveness and provision. None of it was contrived or done out of obligation. It just poured out and kept going and going. It was the most beautiful thing. We were all completely overwhelmed by God’s goodness to us all that has been shown in what He has provided, what He has taught us, His timing, His attention to detail, His intimate and personal love shown to each of us. I can’t even say what a glorious thing it was. But you could have seen my unspeakable joy running down my cheeks in the form of tears. It was an amazing mommy moment…
I cannot begin to do justice to last night by the written word. If you were here right now, I would be using my hands and all of my face to try and share with you how very precious it was. A culmination of all that has happened this past year and how God has worked in it all to produce a beauty we couldn’t even have imagined. A glorious thing.
I’m not sure if any of this makes any sense. But I hope that it sends a message that God is still in the business of miracles. We have a God who loves us so very much and shows us in ways that defy description. I will never understand. I don’t have to. I will just live each day in utter gratefulness…Thank you, God, for a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!
