In keeping with our tradition, we stayed home on Christmas Day.  Daniel, David, Sarah, Sara, Stefano and Chiara all spent the night at Margie’s house (thank you so much, Margie), but they got up early to come over and begin the festivities.  Janel and Ryan stayed with us.  As we always do, we started with a discussion about the true meaning of Christmas; they kids (all 4) recited the Christmas story from Luke 2.  Randy prepared a devotional from Matthew 2 about the gifts of the wise men being an act of worship – our tradition of giving gifts should also be done out of love and reverence for our Savior.  We then opened stockings and paused for breakfast (bagels & lox).

After breakfast, we spent several hours opening and enjoying gifts.  With so many people we took our time so we could savor each gift and the joy of giving and receiving.  Along the way we cooked a nice turkey for dinner.  Randy’s parents came over and visited for quite a while as well.  And, as you might imagine, we took a few pictures.  Click on the one shown to see more.