Celebrating Christmas!

There are many things Christians think about when they celebrate Jesus' birth.  A Savior has been born. The Word has become flesh. A child has been born: Emmanuel, God with us. God has remembered the lowly and rejects the mighty in their throwns. A light of revelation for the Gentiles and glory for the people of Israel.

And yet, at Christmas, with food on the table and gifts to share among family, it seems almost impossible to really wrap our minds around the the helplessness and poverty in the scene of a child in an animal's feeding tough. 
 
One aspect of this scene that I'm thinking about this year is that aspect of being pushed out of a hometown or a homeland. Mary and Joseph were first on the move to Bethlehem, which apparently was where their roots were but distant enough that they couldn't find places to stay with distant relatives or inns.  And then the new family fled to Egypt until Herod had died.

Refugees, immigrants, and migrants are on the move every year and this has been a year when refugees have been in the headlines in particular. It is remarkable how quickly Christians become suspicious of vulnerable people.  Although maybe that is not surprising, as the religious leaders and powerful were also suspicious of Jesus, who walked among the vulnerable.

While our circumstances are nothing in comparison to refugees, we are learning what it means to celebrate the meaning of Jesus' birth in a context away from the traditions and gatherings in our homeland this year as well.  At each step we're trying to figure out what is going on around us, what is expected of us, and what we are going to do on our own initiative to celebrate Christmas as a family. While this has taken extra energy, we have been blessed to enjoy good food, music, sharing gifts, several conversations through Skype, and even a visit from my brother Nathan. God has been with us in our vulnerability as well!

Here are some pictures from our Christmas season:

Lia, singing with her Kindergarten class at their Christmas program.

Painting Christmas salt-cookie ornaments.

 Very careful.

Another craft idea of Rebekah's: finger painting the manger scene.

Christmas morning: opening stockings!  (Another note: Lia wanted to wear long sleeves and long pants pajamas so that Christmas would feel cozy.)

Rebekah worked hard to prepare a brunch for our MCC staff and their families who were around on Christmas day, which turned out to be most of the group. Lots of coffee cake, eggs, bacon, fruit, and cookies. (Another note: She did all this without her glasses, which got broken at the beach earlier this week...)

Sharing food.

 Sharing conversation.

Sharing music.

Playing Candyland.

Later in the day we opened presents among our family.  Here, Silas and Lia find Legos from Mommy and Daddy.

Eagerly opening a present from Grandma and Grandpa Good, thanks to our courier Nathan.

 Assembling the Legos as the instructions instruct.  Later we'll disassemble these and get creative.

 Our tech guy with his phone/computer/book.

Our tech guy setting up some new equipment so we can do some recording.  We're a step behind with the Good Charles Family Band project for this Christmas.

 Later in the afternoon we heard music on a loudspeaker coming from the park.  Lia and Silas and I went out to find that the Sandinistas had sent piñatas out to parks across the country.  A line-up of 16 piñatas here in our Linda Vista Norte neighborhood park! 

Sixteen piñatas meant plenty of candy for everyone, even our cautious (but very interested) children who tiptoed around the edge of the candy tackle.