Merry Christmas from the Beck Clan! A family tradition has always been to take Christmas Eve pictures in front of the Christmas Tree...usually after church and before dinner and presents. This year because Jamie and Megan are flying to Michigan on Christmas Eve, we declared Thursday, Dec 22 our Beck Christmas Eve! We missed going to church but had all the rest of the traditions! 

Jody and Darin, the newlyweds! We are so thankful to have them here this Christmas...my best Christmas gift! Thanks for including us in your Christmas plans this year! I was dreading Christmas without you and this really did make it a very memorable Christmas...our first with everyone married! The frame of our family picture really is complete! 

Heather and Matt....we will be having Christmas Dinner with them tonight at their house after the church service! Thanks Heather for the invitation to come make new Christmas traditions with you! We are looking forward to the evening in their very cozy log cabin in the woods with Tikka and Milo! 

Jamie and Megan...they are getting ready to fly to Michigan to spend the holidays with Meg's family as I type this. We will miss them tonight especially but are so glad that they can have this time with not only Megan's parents and brother Ben, but also drive to Illinois to spend time with her Grandfather and Mom's extended family...safe travels you two!(I am hoping you might check this out while you are gone) 

Jody asked if we could please still do Gingerbread this year even tho some were still working this week...Darin got right into the action....nice work Darin! 

Oma and Opa came from Calgary as they do every year, and came for dinner on Wednesday....it was so awesome that Jody and Darin could come home and spend time with our family and give everyone a chance to get to know Darin better! Thanks for sharing Jody with us! 

Heather joined us for this family tradition this year...Matt, Jamie and Megan took a rain check! Working was a good excuse for Matt and Megan...Jamie didn't have a good one! We love you anyway Jamie! 

Heather's Gingerbread...also a work of art(this is why I quit decorating Gingerbread..I couldn't compete with the artists in our family! Besides which, it is way more fun to watch them decorate!) 

Jody's Gingerbread....always a work of art! Do you like the little man with the teddy bear in his arms and Santa with the Christmas Tree? 

December 23 is my sister Evelyn's birthday and the day of our Wilde(yes that was my maiden name) Family Gathering. This year she hosted it and this is what happens when 7 grandchildren grow up and get married! They take over the table! For those of you that know our family, starting at the left with Jody and Darin, then Chelsea(girlfriend) and Jeremy, Jamie and Megan, Matt and Heather, Stephen with his bride, Jessica(they got married in July), Ashley and Jonathan. 

Heather and Megan model their gifts...can you tell that they were both very excited about them? And that they have similar taste in clothes? 

The things you find out at Family Gatherings! Here my nephew Jeremy shows us how he can play two recorders at the same time in harmony even! We were having a family carol sing and he decided we needed more instruments!

Family resemblances where you least expect it!!!! Heather and her cousin Ashley found this out at the table yesterday! Don't ask me how! 

May you experience the wonder of Christmas this year! We wish you a very Merry Christmas! 

Almost Christmas!

I can hardly believe it...it's almost Christmas! I had my last day in the office on Thursday and today I finally got my Inbox down to a reasonable number so that I feel like I can leave it for the next weeks while we celebrate Christmas! Yup, this is it...today is Saturday, December 17, and on Monday, Darin and Jody will fly in from Texas! We are all so excited to finally be able to be together again! This will be our Christmas week...with our kids, and with my extended family(Oma and Opa will drive in from Calgary).

Thursday evening will be Christmas Eve here at the Beck's, complete with Roladen for dinner and Black Forest Cake for dessert in honor of Jesus Birthday! We will all be together at my sister's place for Turkey dinner on Friday, before Jamie and Megan fly to Michigan on Saturday morning to spend the holidays with her family. We will make new traditions on Saturday evening by spending Christmas Eve at Heather and Matt's house...complete with Tikka and Milo! That will be an adventure I am sure!

So this is it for us...it's Christmas! I have marvelled at the wonder of Christmas this week...that God loved us with such an extravagant love that he sent His son as a baby in a manger! How incredible is that? That He is never stingy or cheap, but everything He does and gives is in abundance! Abundant love, grace, peace and joy!

May you experience the wonder of Christmas in your homes this week as well!

Sunday, December 4 was Dave's birthday...I started the morning out by finally taking the promised picture of my yellow roses that I had to cut and bring into the house to rescue from the snow...here they are back out in the snow bank! Only in BC!

Everyone had somewhere to be...except, Heather, Grandma and us...so Grandma treated us to lunch at the ABC restaurant! We had a great time...just the four of us! Then for dinner, Jamie and Megan and Heather and Matt all came over for a delicious meal of Roladen, complete with red cabbage, and delicious birthday cake. 

Heather took this picture of the two of us at lunch....she wouldn't take another picture with my eyes open more so this has to do! 

Black Forest Cake is Dave's Birthday Cake of choice.....straight from my kitchen! mmm, mmm, good! 

Such a big pile of presents.....Happy Birthday to you! 

Dave was totally surprised by his gift from the kids....the Complete Calvin and Hobbs Collection! Always a fan, the kids used to buy Dave the comic books when they were small. When they saw this complete edition, they knew this was the gift for this year! He had seen it too and decided that as much as he wanted it, he should couldn't justify buying it for himself...now he didn't have to!

Everyone had to look at the books...and each one had a different cartoon on the front and back cover. 

Enjoying his present! 

We tried four times to get a picture with both Dave and his Mom both with their eyes open! It didn't work...but this one was close! Evidence that she was really here on his birthday...the first one she had spent with him in over 30 years! 

A Memorable Night

It's hard to believe but Dave and I went on our first date 31 years ago tonight! It wasn't anything spectacular, we just went to a movie showing on the Campus at the University of Alberta(it was cheap)...Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a stupid movie actually about a seagull of all things! But it was the beginning of something amazing...we had grown to be good friends that fall in Edmonton, and suddenly we both realized that it was more than that.

God had orchestrated this relationship, and within two months we were engaged and four months later married! And it all began on this memorable night!

James 1:17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.