Every year for the last 5 years we have been opening our home to friends and family during the Christmas Season. Every year it gets bigger and better. Last year we added a night with Santa. We decorate every room in the house including the bathrooms. There is a tree in every room, nativities everywhere you look.
This last Saturday night we had the second open house of the season. We had lots of people come through and it was fun to see the faces of people. One of our neighbors brought her little boy to see. This is the first year that he has noticed Christmas. He has had to walk by our house every night to see the Christmas lights outside.
Jack was so excited to see all the trees and the trains all over the house. He could not stop running from one end of the house to the other. Jack is autistic and he is 6 or 7. Jack is not normally vocal, he usually just makes high pitch sounds. Jack would get so excited that he would roll in the floor and do a little break dancing. He was so fun to watch. What a pure heart.
After a few trips around the house he found a nativity scene in the bathroom that has a little sheep in it. He picked up the sheep and said, "sheep." His mom said yes Jack sheep and got very excited. He carried that sheep around for a while. Then Jack spotted the snowman in the chess set and said "snow" and ran back to put the sheep where it belonged. He then went and picked up the snowman and carried it with him and every time he went back in to the room with the chess set he would pick up another snowman until he had all four in his hands.
Soon Jack found the guitar in my sewing room and played it and he calmed right down. He walked through the house and touched everything lightly. When he would start to get wild again he would go back to the guitar and play it for a little bit and then he would calm back down.
Jack got me to think about how I view my God. Do I come to Him with the excitement like the first time I met Him? Am I running from one end to the next to discover more about my God. Am I calming down by turning to Him and His word?
"Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls." - Mathew 11:29
Christmas morning we woke up early. Darrin and I waited for the kids to arrive. Bobby Sue was first to arrive. Darrin and Bobby opened their stockings. I started to make pancakes. 
I thought about my Dad and how that had always been his job. Years ago Dad gave me the bowl that he always used to make the pancakes with. 
After opening all the presents I started Christmas dinner and everybody played Mexican dominos. It was nice to have a baby in the house. I look forward to the years to come with a little one around.
