First Holiday in Fresno

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Well, we made it through our first holiday season in Fresno. A California Christmas actually wasn't too much different from an Ohio Christmas or a West Virginia Christmas or a tender Tennessee Christmas or a Texas Christmas or even a Czech Christmas. What makes Christmas special for me is not the place or the weather. It's the people I share it with. And while this year's Christmas was just our little family of four, it was special. We experienced the blessing of the Christmas season in a unique way. I can't say that I wished to be anywhere else.

There are blessings that come from living your whole life in one place. Putting down deep roots in a community gives you access to great connections and resources. I don't know what this kind of life would be like, and sometimes I wonder how it would feel to know one place so intimately and to have relationships that that deep.

But I also know that blessings can come from the transient life. Our kids are learning that they can do just fine in almost any place. God can provide for them wherever they are. The things that matter most in life can sometimes come into clearer focus when we hit the road and learn to fend for ourselves. Moving around can strip us of our cultural blinders and ethnocentrism as we learn different ways of understanding life.

All this to say that our first Cali Christmas was just great!

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