My Favorite Christmas Gift of 2007

This weekend was my extended family's Christmas and I have come to find that the annoying dynamics of my family are also the ones which make me love them so much. Last night was all the prep work for today, we baked, made sleeping arrangements at my parents' house, bought last minute groceries and supplies, wrapped presents.....all that good stuff. Well as I mentioned before there are things about my family which annoy me sometimes like saying breakfast is going to be at 10:30 and then we don't even sit down till 11:30, my sisters following me around wherever I go while being loud and obnoxious, and also being ultra dramatic about where everyone will sleep. So anyway Frankie has never seen this side of my family before, naturally, since this is our first Christmas together. Who would ever imagine deciding where everyone would sleep would be such a huge deal? Satya says, "Oh my gosh! Where are we all going to sleep, I mean Ben needs a bed, Libby needs a bed, the girls, Jon and me, Frankie....we all have to sleep somewhere!!!" OH HORRORS!!! I usually get irritated at this unnecessary drama but seeing Frankie's humorous reaction to the whole thing made me realize just how funny it really is! Being someone who loves to laugh I wholeheartedly rid myself of all irritation. So as we were sitting down to dinner tonight I looked around the table at my dear family and felt a wave of emotion come over me. I love my family so much, and thinking of the fact that God brings us all together in such a unique and wonderful way makes me so grateful. We always talk about the church being the "body" and that we all work together as one vessel. I think we often forget the smaller part of being one "body", our own families. My family is made up of an array of different backgrounds and beliefs. My grandparents are Mennonite, my Uncle a Quaker, my Aunt is Methodist and her husband not religious at all. My brother-in-law is searching for answers and the rest of us are Pentecostals. All raised in different eras and times, old-school and new, quiet and loud, irritable and tolerant, such a variety of personalities and backgrounds! Thinking about this made it so much cooler to know my family still loves each other, builds each other up as one unit, and that God has an ultimate plan. I'm glad Frankie laughed, otherwise I may not have recognized this till later down the road. So from that one little act of finding humor in the silly things God gave me such a sweet and lovely gift this Christmas about my family. Thanks for the gift, Lord, it's my favorite!!