Day: December 25, 2008

What does it look like?

December 25, 2008 1 Comment

DSC00662
Someone asked me the other day what our home looked like on Christmas Eve, with presents under the tree and stockings stuffed. “It must look magical!” she said. Yes, pretty close. The sun was just coming up when I snapped this picture of the tree and stockings. We had quite a good Christmas Day. All the kids knew and understood that nothing would happen before 7 AM. Sebastian awoke at 6:30 AM with Jasper not far behind him. I parked them in front of the TV in the playroom with half a chocolate pop-tart each (chocolate pop-tarts was a specific request from Sebastian for Christmas morning). Carys awoke fifteen minutes later. The movie and sugar fix kept the kids occupied until 7:30 AM when Sela finally got up. The extra sleep for Sela was a real blessing because she was building quite a nasty sleep debt = grumpy. The rest of the day went very well. The kids were quite well behaved and reasonably quiet considering the fact they had lots to excite them. Midday we went to some friends’ home on the Gold Coast of Hong Kong (Kowloon side) for an afternoon Christmas brunch. (There were six adults and nine kids.) We ended up staying until 8:30 PM, since everyone was having such a great time and the kids well behaved. We got home about 9:15 PM and needless to say, it took no time for the kids to fall asleep.

DSC00664DSC00665DSC00667

The singing of the Angels…

December 25, 2008 2 Comments

Union church chr eve 08Tess gave an early evening update on her blog of our Christmas Eve activities. After the kids were in bed, Tess and I were wrapped, packed and stacked by 9:30 PM. We managed to get two episodes of Frasier, Season 6 under our belts before I headed out to the Union Church Candlelight Service at 11 PM. With the exception of the light illuminating the cross, all other lighting came from candles. If you are a sucker for ambiance, this service would have brought you to your knees. Pastor Greg Anderson's Christmas message, "The Angel's Anthem" might have brought you to your knees, too. This was quite possibly one of the top ten sermons I have ever heard. Pastor Greg even quoted Will Farrell from the movie "Talladega Nights." At one point in the movie Ricky Bobby (Farrell) prays to "little baby Jesus" at the start of a family meal. The blessing is long, tedious and funny, with Farrell repeatedly referring to Christ as a small, infant baby until his wife says, "You know, sweetie, Jesus did grow -up." Her point is that Jesus is much more than a baby. After reading from this movie's scene, Pastor Greg planted a seed in people's mind by saying, "I don't want to insult your faith but some of us have a Baby Jesus faith. We think of the little baby in the manger but we forget something…"

Pastor Greg concluded his message with this quote from Pastor Howard Thurman. "There must always remain in every life some place for the singing of the angels. Some place for that which in itself is breathless and beautiful. Old burdens become lighter. Deep and ancient wounds lose much of their old hurting. Despite all the crassness of life, all the harshness and harsh discords, life is saved by the singing of the angels."

May you find the angels singing for you this Christmas and in the coming New Year. With love from Team Caldwell in Hong Kong.

Pastor Greg Anderson's inspiring Christmas message "The Angel's Anthem" can be heard here.

 

ABOUT AUTHOR
Charles

Originally from Canada and lived in Hong Kong for fifteen years. Married to the terribly talented & gorgeous Tess.

RECENT POSTS
No Joy
April 3, 2005 8 Comments

I doubt my father will be thrilled with my inaugural entry into the blogging world. But read on anyway… In my younger, pre-parenthood and much

Sebastian’s Knee
April 5, 2005 4 Comments

Many read Tess’ post on Sebastian’s knee. I will now tell you what ended up happening at the Tuesday morning follow-up appointment. This is Hong

Sebastian the Naughty Pedestrian
April 8, 2005 4 Comments

I am writing from Bangkok. I am on a business trip and staying in the same hotel from my first trip to Asia in 1990.

New pictures posted!
April 14, 2005 2 Comments

new pictures posted on tess’ blog of the triplets and Sebastian… click here!

Macau Recruiting Issues
April 16, 2005 5 Comments

Tantalizing Tess left today for her grandfather’s funeral. Sombre moods. I am sitting at our computer sipping a glass of white wine. It’s about 11