The Silly and the Serious on Christmas Eve

This evening, while each of the children (excluding Benjamin) opened one gift apiece...

 ...and while we had the most hilarious time playing with Shav's gift (the game Pie Face)...

 ...and while the children eagerly set up camp in the living room to sleep beside the tree, then tossed and turned and exclaimed about how hard it was to fall asleep...

...a current was flowing underneath all of that.  

A current of words, flooding my soul with WONDER.

These words.

Man's maker was made man, 

that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother's breast; 

that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; 

that the Truth might be accused of false witness, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; 

that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life might die.

~ Augustine of Hippo ~ 

What a marvel!  What a gift!  And with the angels, I cry, "GLORY to God in the highest!!!"