Every Christmas Eve, my entire family goes to my parents' church for their annual Candlelight Service. It's a great chance to focus our hearts on Christ and afterwards, my mom loves to gather all of her kids and grandkids for a family picture.
The service is perfect. The pastor reads short passages of scripture about the birth of Christ and between each passage, we sing Christmas Carols. At the end, each person is holding a lit candle, since the Light of the World has been born. We also partake in Communion. The head of each family leads his wife and children in the Lord's Supper. It's a precious time of worship.
This year, our family is missing its earthly father. Our annual tradition will be bittersweet without my step-dad, who passed away in September. Keep our family and others who experienced loss this year in your prayers. Christmas has been a mixture of joy and sorrow this year. Pray that we focus heavenward and once again, we sing and pray "Come, thou long expected Jesus."
Papa and Izzy, when she was 1.
what a special tradition! I think we may try to go to a candlelight service next year, but this year the babies wouldn't sit through it :P
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