Belated...

Merry Christmas!!
I (Michael) had dreams of some great blogs leading up to Christmas, with emotional outpourings about the holiday season, and then a simple but meaningful quote or verse on Christmas day. Alas, none of it happened. We hope your Christmas was beautiful and blessed, and that you could clearly see Christ above all.

Here's a brief rundown of our day....pictures will follow in the next post. We had a wonderful day with both families! We started at my parents' house, with traditional opening of stockings and some presents first thing in the morning. I don't know if I'll ever lose the excitement of Christmas morning, but it was increased many times over in sharing it with our son. He doesn't quite get the concept of opening presents yet, but his eyes were wide and he had a good time anyway. We then went to have lunch with my grandmother in her nursing home. It was truly special to be with her on Christmas, and seeing Noah always brightens her day! We went from there to Laura's sister Cindy's house, to have the Kunst/Erickson/Salvatierra Christmas celebration and dinner. What a job to host such a gathering. Noah loved seeing his cousins - they have such energy and joy!
Finally we returned to the Salvatierra home to put Noah to bed and finish opening presents.
It was quite a blur, but I do believe we experienced the love of Christ through our families. It is perhaps the last we will share with them in person for a couple years, so it was particularly sweet. Praise the Lord for his gift - "Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace, hail the Sun of Righteousness....glory to the newborn King!"