The Labonte Family...: Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

Blessed Feast of the Nativity to you all!

Thy Nativity O Christ our God,

Has shown to the world the light of Wisdom

For by it those who worshipped the stars,

Were taught by a star to adore Thee,

The Son of Righteousness and to know Thee,

The Orient from on High.

O Lord, Glory to Thee!

This has been a particularly sweet year of awaiting and celebrating the Nativity of our Lord, as we now have our own precious son to share it with. After the Nativity Fast, the celebration began with Liturgy on Christmas Eve at 10:30p at our church, St. John Orthodox Church. The service ended around midnight and we went to the parish hall to begin the 12 days of feasting!

Everyone is always so happy and cozy at these middle of the night celebrations. It gives you a tiny glimpse as to how the shepherds must have felt, celebrating before the rest of the world even knew that it was eternally changed! With exclamations of Christ is Born! Glorify Him!, exchanging of small gifts, and enjoying delicious treats that we had waited all month to taste as we anticipated the coming of the Feast, our hearts were truly full.

Joseph was not phased one bit by being awakened in the middle of the night! He actually loved every second, blowing bubbles, growling and laughing with his cousin after the service. He never closed an eye or got drowsy, so as not to miss a second of his first(of many!!) late night services!

Billy and I got up at 8:45 to make coffee and get breakfast going and Joseph woke up at about 9:30 to join us for our little family Christmas. He was all smiles when we went to get him out of bed. He enjoyed helping us open a few gifts, playing with the ribbon and his new toy, and listening as his Dad read the Christmas story. He also got very tickled when his silly Mama started jumping up and down and squealing about the "snow" on his first Christmas! He really did laugh at me. haha.

Then my goddaughter and our dear friend, Ashley, joined us for a late breakfast celebration! We had breakfast pie and homeade orange/cranberry scones (i was so proud of my first attempt at scones!). yum yum! It was so fun to have her with us that morning, as all her family lives in Indiana.

While Joseph was napping we got ready to head out to my parents' house in Arlington. My whole family was in town, which is difficult when you have 5 siblings, and SO much fun! Martin and Joseph loved all the attention from their great grandmothers, JJ and Pops, and all their aunts and uncles!

The night was not over! At 7:30, we headed back to Midtown to see Mimi and Pop, Billy's parents! By this time Joseph had really gotten the hang of the day. He knew it was a day of pretty paper, bows and ribbons to be pulled and all his favorite people around. He was pumped by this point....the 2.5 hr nap he had while we were eating dinner at my parents' didnt hurt, either! When he opened his toys from his Great-Mimi he squealed so loud and started lunging for it! Then he would look around the room to make sure we saw how awesome it was, give us each a huge smile and start squealing again! SO cute!