Christmas is Exciting

Christmas is a wonderful time and I look so forward to having all the children in the house at one time and enjoying a wonderful meal together. We don't go all out with presents (see David's blog) for each other but we do have the stockings stuffed and monetary gifts for the children. But now it's over! The Christmas holidays are drawing to an end and the big celebrations are over. Our children came and went within 4 hours. Again, as at Thanksgiving, the preparations took far longer than the actual event.

My step-daughters are visiting their mother and my boys are back in Wilmington and visiting relatives respectively. So, my husband and I are home alone! Sounds pretty romantic, huh? Well, let me remind you of our occupations. He is a Baptist minister and I am a minister of music and youth, both in the same church which is synonymous with "never a dull moment".

Our respective families were begging for us to take the few days after Christmas to visit with them. One set is in Ellerbe, NC and the other in Appomattox, VA. We had considered to do just that since we didn't have services on Wednesday evening but because we had a church member in the hospital recovering from a triple by-pass and one in the hospital/rehab recovering from a serious back operation, we just didn't feel we could leave town. This didn't go over too well with the parents, but it's just the way it has to be in our professions.

The day after Christmas, David and I headed to Wilmington to visit our heart patient and the girls headed out for a day of shopping and to their mom's. On our way home we got word that one of our church member's grandfather had passed away Christmas night. Since the grandfather was not a member of a local church, David was asked to officiate the service which would require a funeral service and several visits to the home. As he was preparing this service, we did our worship planning for the upcoming Sunday which includes 3 services.... all in the morning. The phone rang, another death. This time it was the mother of a woman who had visited our church several times but had no church and they requested David do the service. Being the compassionate person he is, he couldn't turn this family down. Funeral #2 preparations are now to be made. One would be Saturday @ 3:30 and the other on Sunday at 2:00. On Sunday afternoon, I will be taking our youth to Caswell for The Edge Conference, an annual event for us but only after I sing in the Sunday funeral.

Christmas is a busy time for most folks and for many, as myself, enjoying the hustle and bustle the season brings is part of the excitement. However, I've had just about enough excitement for one Christmas. Our prayers are with the families we are currently ministering to because of the deaths of their loved ones. May God be with all the families who are experiencing grief this Christmas season.