The Sublett7 successfully navigated the Christmas/New Year’s holiday, and with the kids starting back to school today, I took a few minutes to reflect on some of the high points of the break.
Annabelle and Josie got to experience their first Christmas. Both of them have made a commitment to follow Jesus, so this was an excellent opportunity to teach them more about the hope we have in Jesus.
We’d planned to have the kids draw names to exchange gifts, but Lilly said that we were crazy if we thought she wasn’t buying gifts for her new sisters. She has her mother’s love language (which often puts a dent in my moneyclip!)
It was more fun watching our kids open gifts than I remember in years past. Maybe it’s because they’re putting more thought into buying gifts for each other. Do you know the joy of finding just the right gift for someone?
As we sat around the supper table one evening before Christmas, Kim asked the kids to tell us one thing they were looking forward to about the upcoming Christmas holiday. Annabelle said that she was excited to celebrate Jesus’s birthday. Josie said she was looking forward to being with all the cousins. In fact, all our kids said something about family. For me, that was the highlight of Christmas–the fact that our kids are more excited about family than they are about presents.
Don’t get me wrong–there was plenty of whoopin’ and hollerin’ about the new gizmos, gadgets, and games under the tree. But long after the new and shiny has worn off the toys, we’ll still have family connections, bonds and memories that tie us together.
That has been the breakthrough for Josie this year. More than anything, she wanted a family. That was one of the first questions she asked us when we met her in October: Do you have lots of cousins, and will you spend time with them?
Welcome to the family…
We had a great New Year’s Eve, too. Most of the families we thought we coming over had to cancel (sick kiddos) but we had a blast anyway. We went out to eat with Marc and Sara, then strolled through the downtown SC looking at all the ice sculptures. And it wouldn’t be NYE without kettle corn and a slide down the ice slide!
At the stroke of midnight, we all headed outside for the yearly epic silly string battle. After the kids had depleted their stores, we gathered them for a picture. Marc and Sara had carefully stashed a couple of cans, which they pulled out at just the right moment!
2010 was a year of change and growth (literally and figuratively) for the Subletts. We went from a homogeneous family of 5 to an incredibly blended and diverse family of 7. We have effectively filled the miniature van! We can’t wait to see what 2011 brings. Anybody got a big van for sale?
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