Christmas Break

This has been a wonderfully relaxing week. My boss gave me a week off for Christmas which I was SO thankful for. So I have been able to enjoy my husband's company which I feel like I don't get a lot of any more because of my long work hours. So it's been nice.
Christmas was different for us this year because we decided to stay in America and it was also different because we did not give material gifts this Christmas. All our gifts were from World Vision in honor of our family and friends. One of my sisters gave clothes and a stocking filled with girlie stuff to a 13 year old girl in Newfoundland in honor of me - that was a nice gift.
Des and I gave each other a gift of of the season, where every season a different gift is given to someone. The gift of a goat (spring), immunizations for a child in an impoverished community (summer), a school backpack and supplies (fall), and water treatment tablets to provide a year's worth of safe water for a school (winter).
I really like this method of gift giving.
I've been thinking about a version of O Holy Night our church did on Christmas Eve. It was rockish. But it made me think about the complexity that can be there at Christmas and in the midst of all the craziness, we are celebrating a holy night that took place.

Kind of random thoughts today.