Christmas 2014: The Day in Photos

All is calm… All is bright…

Slightly grainy but still cute.

I love the early morning sleepy faces.

He saw this picture later and said, "why am I hugging my stocking?"

Our little angel baby. :)

She's in her element and so excited. Let it go, Let it go…

Santa made his day.

The great pickle search begins.

Aaaaannndd no surprise, Ruby found it.

Quite the WARM Christmas this year. No snow for days.

We made a nice big breakfast, and Ben made pancakes especially for the kids. They usually love pancakes, but they didn't really eat today for some reason. Maybe the excitement. Maybe too many stocking treats. But this would be the "after breakfast" picture, not before or during. 

The kids had already left the table and Ben and I were talking about the neighborhood, wondering out loud if those around us had a Christmas this year. He stared out the window, deep in thought, and I said that I should empty the trash can so I had somewhere to put all this food. Because who saves a bunch of cut up, half-eaten pancakes mushy with syrup? The sharp, piercing contrast didn't escape me, though. I couldn't believe it just seamlessly flowed out of my mouth like that, but it had. A quick skip rock throw from poverty to food in such abundance it needs to be thrown away. 

To bridge that gap between desperate need and abundance, without enabling but teaching, equipping, and empowering, to care for the widows and orphans, to truly live in community, to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly--those are worthwhile pursuits. But I'm not sure how to do that with leftover pancakes.

Clayton said, "It was you guys that put the fruit snacks in our stockings, not Santa!"

"What makes you say that?" I replied.

"Because the box is right here in the recycle bin!!"

"Well, maybe Santa recycles. You never know. Maybe he decided to go green this year."

Whoops.