Christmas in Corvallis

from Ben's mom

We had a nice Christmas despite Mike being sick for several days and a migraine for me on Christmas morning. (Amazingly, it went away with ibuprofen and a short nap.) Christmas Eve, I went to two services. The first with Mark, Mom, and Ben and the second was Christmas Eve Mass at 10pm with Mark and Dana. It was packed and festive and very special.

Christmas morning, we opened packages. Unfortunately it was Ben's nap time by the time some of us slower people made it out. He made it through his four packages barely before taking his football from Uncle Mark with him for a nap. He woke up a much happier boy, football in hand, ready to play. He had forgotten about his golf set and was pretty excited to tee off with Dad. We are looking forward to snow so he can play in his cool new boots.

Mark won the gift-giving awards this year with expensive handmade perfume (purchased in Cairo, Egypt) for Mom and the flight portion of a family vacation this year to all of us. (Mom's vote is for Puerta Vallarta, but things are yet undecided.)

We had the Marks/Brownell Family over for dinner and games in the afternoon. They brought Jeeves, a 5-wk old miniature dachsund along and Ben wasn't sure what to do with a real puppy.

This Christmas season, we read Madeleine L'Engle's Bright Evening Star, her thoughts on the Incarnation. I appreciated her observation that mankind was not redeemed simply through the death and resurrection but through the LIFE of Jesus who came and lived on earth as a man and experienced what it was like to be us. His life gives us hope, just as his death and resurrection do.

The other observation I made (with help) was that the two peoples that God chose to announce the birth of His son to represent the opposite end of the social/economic/political spectrum of the time. He came to shepherds (first), the lowest rung on the ladder, the nobodys of society. Then he appeared to kings (though he was less obvious and they had to do a little figuring it out). Jesus, then as now, was no respecter of persons. The worship of the shepherds was every bit as important as the adoration of the kings. He wants ALL of us to be there.