I love those parts of Christmas, but it's really easy to get wrapped up in them (pun intended) and forget that they're just fluff. Every year when I decorate my house for the holidays, the first thing to go up are my Nativity scenes.

Growing up, we had a Nativity scene in almost every room in our home. Our advent calendar wasn't daily chocolate, but an interactive felt wall hanging that moved Mary and Joseph closer to Bethlehem each day. One of the challenges I faced when leaving home was figuring out how to keep the tradition of making Christ the center of Christmas. One thing that I have found helpful is making time to just be still at the end of each day. I love to sit and reflect when the house is quiet and only the Christmas tree lights are on.

This Christmas, I've found it a little easier to focus because our family has been blessed with many miracles. SO many. The latest one happened just yesterday. Last week, my sister came home with really bad back pain. When a kid with spina bifida says their back hurts, you don't mess around, so they trucked her off to the hospital pretty quickly. We were told that she had fractured one of her vertebrae, but weren't told how severe it was. Worst case scenario, a fractured vertebrae meant back surgery, or at very least, a stiff plastic brace. The family had been planning to travel to Alberta to spend Christmas with my grandparents, but this threw a major wrench into their plans. Yesterday, they took Sarah to see one of her specialists in the city, and a miracle happened. 

The doctors in Melfort had misread the x-ray. There was no fracture.

God has always given the best Christmas gifts.