Mission: Spend Christmas at Home, Day PM and Boxing Day Too

Christmas afternoon, we were privileged and blessed to witness three of our friends baptisms. After they were all properly and solemnly dunked, it was party time! We enjoyed a potluck dinner and then a "family concert," which really meant that anyone who wanted to could get up and perform. Izumi missed her school Christmas concert the week before last and therefore, her opportunity to perform "Joy to the World". She and her two little friends made up for it here! I expected her to be shy but instead, she was all about the mic! We don't attend Sunday services at this particular church, but I've been part of one of their Bible studies (in Japanese) for eight or nine years now. This community blesses us and takes us in though we aren't officially "members," and the special time we spent with them this Christmas was yet another reminder of their grace.

Boxing Day--a term I'm using only 'cause it sounds better than "the day after Christmas," not 'cause I actually know what it's about--was a triumph in my mind. We actually pulled off a family outing! Not our strength for now, though I'm sure we'll get better since Misaki is closer to turning three. We went to see ZooLights at the Lincoln Park Zoo. We left home around 3:30 pm, which seemed kind of random but turned out to be perfect! We found *free* street parking on Cannon Drive! We had to walk a bit but it was worth it! I brought along a whole lot of food so other than the gas for driving, we didn't spend a penny on our outing! We were right out of there a little past six because it was well dark and getting chilly. Which meant that the kids went to bed more or less on time! Yes! I am disproportionately excited about our outing! Because we "made a memory"! Thanks for indulging my excessive use of exclamation points.