We're having a green Christmas...

If you are joining me from Glynnis' sweet and simple Christmas, welcome. I'm so glad you dropped by.  We are hunkered down at home with a couple of sick kids. We are choosing to see it as a blessing. Our calendar just became unusually clear for this time of year. (I mean no one wants to hang out when your kids are a little green, and not in the festive, Christmas-y kind of way!)

So whatever you are doing today, I pray it is filled with sweet, simple Christmas blessings. If it feels frantic rather than festive, see my post from earlier this week. Sometimes the chaos reminds us of that first Christmas. If that's true then, the Capps household is enjoying a VERY authentic Christmas this year.

Merry hugs to you all!

Cherishing the Chaos of Christmas

Less than comfortable accommodations. Noisy roommates with not so great hygiene. A delivery that didn't arrive as expected. Uninvited guests. Maybe God purposed the chaos of the first Christmas knowing that Christmas ever after would be just as chaotic. If you are joining me from Karen Ehman's "12 Days of Christmas Giveaway," welcome! If not, hop over there for a chance to win some incredible gifts for Christmas. But come right back. You'll want to see the rest of the pictures from our family's Christmas tradition.

As I told Karen, I'm learning to cherish the chaos of Christmas. Each year I resolve to avoid it, and yet chaos seems as much a part of Christmas as scattered glitter, strewn pine needles and Fort Knox toy packaging. Based on Mary's experience, birthed by God Himself, should I wonder at the chaos of my own little corner of Christmas? In our noisy Bethlehem, I often feel like a chorus of some sort shouts overhead. From time to time the smell of poop wafts through the air. Weird and unexpected gifts find their way to my home.  And to be honest sometimes I feel like I'm living with wild animals.

And yet it's all still magical and new and blessed. At least that's how I choose to see it.

I kind of bet Mary made a similar choice. When I get to heaven, I want to have a girl's night out with that chick. Of all the women in Scripture, Mary is the queen of cherishing the chaotic and unexpected. I mean, an angel appears to her in the middle of the night and tells her she's prego. (And I thought peeing on a stick was eventful.) Her response according to Luke 1 is, "how will this be?" Come on girlfriends would those have been the first words out of your mouth? Really?  Then he goes on to tell her that God is going to be her baby-Daddy. Can you imagine? I think I would have asked him if he could stop by my Daddy's bedroom before he leaves and share this news with him.

I can't wait to get Mary's perspective on that night and the nights that followed. She worships. She treasures. She ponders. She welcomes. She chooses. I can learn a thing from this first mother of Christmas. So I'm trying to make the wise choice-the choice to cherish.

In comparison to all Mary chose to overlook, my Bethlehem isn't so chaotic.

Now, if you'd like to see pics from our Christmas dinner out with the boys: