After a morning of cleaning the church with Roy, Anna and I went over to make gingerbread houses with Hannah and Jacob, who also go to our church. They take their gingerbread house making very seriously – They’re pros. It turns out a number of people at Southern Hills take gingerbread house making very seriously. We might need to have a church gingerbread house making party and contest sometime.

Because of nearly constant space constraints since I was little, my family never got into making gingerbread houses. It was fun to see the variety of design, even though we were all using the same materials. But more than that, it was fun to spend the time with dear friends, sharing Christmas traditions, leading up to the celebration of one of the two most wonderful holidays, the celebration of Jesus’ birth.

For Christians, even the secular traditions should be a reminder to us of what we are celebrating – We are celebrating the coming of God to earth, the long-promised, long-awaited Messiah, the Blessing of Abraham, the Davidic King who will reign forever, the one who will one day destroy Satan and dry all tears. That is something to celebrate!