A Bevy of Birthdays

On this eighth day of Christmas I would like to tell you about the many birthdays we have celebrated this past octave. The birthday of our God's Firstborn was a joyous and awe-filled celebration. It has struck me anew how impossible the Incarnation is and yet necessary for our salvation. I thank God that He is able to do the impossible and that He even loves me to the point of taking on flesh for my sake.

December 25th is also the birthday of my nephew Christopher. In times past we combined Christmas Eve with a birthday celebration for Chris.

Our eldest grandson celebrated his 4th birthday on December 27th with a haircut by Grandpa. We carefully dried the blood before we took the picture : ) The firstborn son of our firstborn son always has a ready smile. His persistent question in church is whether it is time to run to Grandpa. As soon as he could toddle, he made his way to Grandpa's side so that he too could greet the people coming out of church after the closing hymn. I was making my way back from Alabama when Theodore was born.

My newest sister-in-law, Crina, also celebrated her birthday on the 28th. Their first anniversary is on December 31st but she managed to sneak in a birthday celebration too!

Can you tell that our granddaughter Marina is celebrating her 7th birthday? I think the missing front tooth is a dead give-away!! Marina was born 29 years after our nephew Peter's birthday on December 31, 1970. New Year's Eve in our family has a totally different emphasis now. Marina was born on the eve of 2000 when I was (of course) in Alabama. I'm glad that I was here this year to celebrate the many birthdays of the octave.

Lastly, we managed to celebrate the birth of a new year knowing that the Incarnate Christ will be there for us every day of 2007 no matter what the year holds.