Merry belated Christmas, all. I knew earlier in the week that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to post during the stretch of days that span Christmas, and I neglected to extend our well-wishes then. We hope everyone had a warm day close to friends and family, remembering the Incarnation of the Son of God that led to our justification and continued sanctification, all to the praise of His glory.<\/p>\n
Thinking back on our experience of the holiday, it’s all somewhat of a blur. This is my first day back at work (I work tomorrow as well) and perhaps it’s the change of setting that impedes recollection. Monday was low-key; Diane and I re-cleaned the house in anticipation of company. Christmas morning Luke woke up at his regular time (around 6:30) and we whisked him through the living room into the kitchen with a blanket over his head to prevent him from seeing presents until after breakfast. Armed with a full stomach (which helps the steadiness of anyone’s nerves), we emptied out stockings and handed each other presents. Luke had a grand time, but certainly treated the process of handing gifts to others for them to open of much lesser importance than discovering what he got. I was a little disappointed by that, but I think that’s something unrelated to the number or value of the presents received, but simply must be taught and learned though daily life the rest of the year and successive key opportunities at Christmastime. In other words, that attitude isn’t necessarily a sign that the glut of commercialism has successfully infiltrated our home, but simply that generosity and altruism are qualities kids don’t innately grasp, and that Luke hasn’t fully learned yet (do we ever?).<\/p>\n
Actually, as Diane and I mused later that morning after the dust had settled, the quantity and quality of the gifts involved this year was just about right. None of us got everything what we wanted, but what we received was thoughtful and special, and Luke wasn’t deluged with gifts like last year (our own fault). Diane thought to pack away most of his existing toys and many of the smaller toys he received for Christmas, for a more progressive dispensation through the months to come, which I think is brilliant.<\/p>\n
Luke’s major presents were a set of cardboard blocks, a magnetic construction set and a Snoopy snow cone maker (from us); a Brio-like car and train table with trundle drawers (from Diane’s parents); and a world map rug, several puzzles and a kids’ Bible (from my parents). Penelope received many new outfits, a teething ring and a playmat-like structure with little doodads hanging from a semicircular arch she lies underneath. Diane’s gifts included knick knacks for around the house, a copy of the His Dark Materials<\/i> trilogy for reading and critiquing, a red Kitchen Aid hand mixer and some jewelery. I got, among other things, The Consequences of Ideas<\/i> (an R.C. Sproul book covering philosophy), many new and needed articles of clothing, books of crossword puzzles, a Canon Digital Rebel XTi DSLR camera and a huge framed print of The School of Athens<\/a><\/i> (the last two were more “family gifts”).<\/p>\n We’re so thankful for family and for each other, and for the material blessings we received. We pray for the diligence to reinvest these things for His glory and to fulfill the cultural mandate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Merry belated Christmas, all. I knew earlier in the week that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to post during the stretch of days that span Christmas, and I neglected to extend our well-wishes then. We hope everyone had a warm day close to friends and family, remembering the Incarnation of the Son of God that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1359"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1359\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}