Christmas at the Brackers

Christmas at the Bracker house is a lot of fun. We take it slowly and calmly, but somehow each day gets filled up with activities. Our town begins the month of December with a Christmas parade that we have attended for five years straight. Some years we are in the parade on our church float, but this year we just watched. Something about "not getting as much candy when you ride".
The parade goes right through the heart of our town on the main road, so many citizens get there an hour ahead of time and tailgate. We tried that this year and it worked very well. We had our hot chocolate and camp chairs and blankets and had a fabulous time!

We've had Christmas parties at church and at home. We had to watch Alabama beat Florida, and it's best to do it with company!!! The children had Christmas programs at church, along with our church celebration called Christmas in the Country, a two day festival that includes everything from hay rides to a live manger scene with animals.

Our family has baked tons of sweets, to give and to eat. The girls and I made homemade Christmas cards to send out, which was lots of fun! And tonight we're going out to drive around and see Christmas lights.

I am beyond thrilled that, as a country, we still take time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. It seems that might be lost in all the hoopla, but not at our house. We do a yearly advent calendar to keep a daily focus on the true story. We also have memorized Luke 2 as a family, where the Bible describes the birth of Jesus. And then on Christmas morning, we read again through the Biblical description *before* we open presents. It may seem like just a list of things that we do, as opposed to how we feel, but that's because it's hard for me in a blog to explain the investing we do in our children daily. As we homeschool, we talk about the Lord constantly, and so it is very real to our children. They understand the difference between truth and fiction, the foolishness of the world vs. the wisdom of God.

Christmas is a lot of fun....celebrations are supposed to be! So we celebrate Christ's birth with festivity. In our home, we try to celebrate a lot of different aspects of life with festivity, because we were created to glorify God. So whatever we do, we do to the glory of God. Our birthdays are fun. Our family nights are fun. Our family devotions each night are fun. Frankly, it's hard to get together with 8 people who all have a great sense of humor and not have a good time.

Anyway that's a picture of a Bracker Christmas. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas with your families, and I hope you all have the peace that comes with knowing Christ, knowing He is in charge of your life.