May 20-25.  Having missed Christmas together because of our adventures in DC, we had promised the kids an antipodal Christmas.  This was it!  We flew into Seattle and made our way to Ocean Shores where we had rented a house for all of us to gather for Christmas in May.  We met half of our kids at a Costco along the way to purchase food for the week-long celebration.  Someone should have gotten out their camera!  Who ever heard of a family reunion at Costco?  The fun was about to begin.

With boxes of provisions, we moved into the house that was to be our home for the next 5 days.  The rest of the children and their significant others joined us and the laughing began.  We talked and cooked and ate and played and sang and carried on for 5 days straight.  The weather was miserable as only it can be on the Washington coast.  The location made little difference.  It was the time that was the gift of grace.  We had all carved out this time to spend with each other.  And it was nothing but grace.  It was the time, really, this graced time together that allowed us to make the space to re-connect and re-discover what it is we know and love about each other.  Pure and simple grace:  Time.

No purchased gifts were exchanged for this Antipodal Christmas, but amidst the frantic pace of our everyday world – the gift of each other’s time was the most priceless gift of all.

When have you discovered the gift of time that is pure and simple grace for you?