Merry Christmas Eve Eve! Or Christmas Adam–since Adam came before Eve. 🙂

This has probably been a busy week for all of you, making final preparations for Christmas. But it’s helpful to pause even in the busiest weeks to be thankful for what God has done and allowed. Some of us join Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story on Fridays to recount the blessings of the week. Feel free to join in!

1. Our 43rd wedding anniversary. We enjoyed a great meal at a nice restaurant. We even had the same waitress that we did at our last anniversary dinner. The restaurant put flowered confetti on the table and wrote Happy Anniversary in chocolate sauce on our dessert plates. They even added little candles on our plates.

2. Time with all the family. My oldest son flew in last weekend. Jim was off this week. Jesse was as well all but Monday and has been over most days. Jason and Mittu came most evenings until Timothy got sick–we’re hoping and praying all will be well by Christmas and that this won’t spread through everyone.

3. A full Sunday. It was a special blessing to all go to church together Sunday morning. Then we stopped at a favorite Asian restaurant. Then we went to a Christmas concert with the Knoxville Symphony and other groups that afternoon. There were a couple of glitches. We didn’t know the Civic Auditorium had a clear bag only policy—thankfully someone let us know just as I got out of the car, so we didn’t have to traipse back to deposit my purse in the car. And then we didn’t know that the CHR beside our seating selections on our tickets meant “Chair’—as in a row of folding chairs in front of the second tier in the balcony. But once we got settled in and the concert started, we enjoyed ourselves. A few days later, Jim called the KSO office to complain about the folding chairs. We felt that at the very least, they needed to be clear on their web site that certain tickets were for folding chairs rather than regular seating. But at the worst, chairs in the aisle were a fire hazard and would cause a problem in an emergency. They hadn’t even known the auditorium used folding chairs and planned to talk to them. And they offered us free tickets for their first concert next year.

4. Christmas light show. There is a big drive-through light show in Sevierville that we’ve been to a few times. But this year we opted for a smaller new one in Townsend. The lights were great—the biggest one was this scenic mill with a moving water wheel. I think it is supposed to represent the one at Cade’s Cove.

And this one showed Santa camping. 🙂

The web site had said there would be food trucks and vendors—but there weren’t any on Tuesday night. But thankfully Jason and Mittu were familiar with the area and knew of a good restaurant nearby. All the other restaurants we saw were closed, so we were especially thankful they knew of this one. They only had outdoor seating available, but they had several big heaters out there, so we were pretty comfortable.

5. Christmas cards and letters. I always love hearing from friends near and far this time of year.

Bonus: Warmth. It is currently 7 degrees F outside, and it’s supposed to get down to 4 in an hour or two. That’s very cold for East TN! I’m praying everyone’s power stays on. I’m thankful for a warm home, hot beverages, and throw blankets.

I hope you all have a very special Christmas this year, especially in remembering the One who left His comfortable and glorious home to come to Earth, live a perfect life in our place, atone for our sin by taking them on Himself on the cross, and conquer death.

Thou who wast rich beyond all splendor,
All for love’s sake becamest poor;
Thrones for a manger didst surrender,
Sapphire paved courts for stable floor.
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendor,
All for love’s sake becamest poor.

Thou who art God beyond all praising,
All for love’s sake becamest man;
Stooping so low, but sinners raising,
Heavenward by Thine eternal plan.
Thou who art God beyond all praising,
All for love’s sake becamest man.

Thou who art love beyond all telling,
Savior and King, we worship Thee.
Emmanuel, within us dwelling,
Make us what Thou wouldst have us be.
Thou who art love beyond all telling,
Savior and King, we worship Thee.

—Frank Houghton