I'm a late bloomer. Many of my friends blog regularly, and as a gal who loves to write, I've always thought I should. Things just kept coming up. So here I am, with my first post.

Boxing Day is upon us and I'm so done with anything resembling sweets. We had a wonderful Christmas week and the kids are such a pleasure right now. We had my little nephew, Nicholas, who is 5 and has Asburger's Syndrome, for 2 1/2 days. The kids both loved playing with him and watching him open presents. They were reminded, I think, of how magical Christmastime is in the eyes of a child. It's not as if my kids are totally cynical and jaded, just older than they once were. They even forgot to put out cookies and milk for Santa this year.

One of the sweetest times this week was attending Christmas Eve service as a family. Our 14 year old, Conor, rarely sits with us during church service, since he attends the youth service that happens concurrently with the main worship in the sanctuary, but this was an exception. I sat there between my wonderful husband and my increasingly tall and deep-voiced man-child, relishing the sound of their full, baritone voices as we sang Christmas carols together, then witnessed the thought, prayer, and gratitude with which Conor took communion. As a parent, nothing is better than seeing the Lord shine in your children, and I truly got to see that in him on Christmas Eve.

As I cast my eye toward the new year and all it will hold, I have to suppress the urge to take all the decorations down today and start cleaning and organizing. Thankfully, my family will keep me from doing so for a few more days, so I can just sit, just BE, just rest in the afterglow of celebrating Jesus' birth with those I love most.