A Different Christmas

This was an unusual Christmas for our family. It was my first
Christmas of not working in a retail environment for over 11 years.
My kids, the oldest being only eight, think it's cool that I don't
have to work extra hours around Christmas this year. In fact, things
are a little slower than normal this week. I had forgotten how nice
it is to have a Christmas Eve not worried about an emergency at the
store or working to get in that last sale before the returns start
coming in.

This Christmas also fell on a Sunday. It was different; taking a
break in our usual traditions to go to church. My wife and I were a
little thrown off by it, but the kids seemed to adapt quite well...
except for Emma right before church. I don't think I'll ever care to
blog about that! :-) The bottom line is, what better way to teach our
children that Christmas is not supposed to be the commercialized
materialism-fest that it has become than by stopping in the middle of
our usual Christmas morning traditions to go to Worship the Savior
whose birth we claim we are celebrating? It was a good change.