What does a Bentley Family Christmas look like?
I love our Christmas rituals!
We typically attend a Christmas Eve service and grab pizza or something with church friends afterwards. Once we get home, each of our kids gets to open one present. On Christmas morning, we fix a big breakfast and then we read the Christmas Story from the Gospel of Luke Chapter 2, verses 1-20.
Then we open presents!
During our first 12 years of marriage, we moved 8 times mostly due to my military service. Because of this, we have a heart for folks who must spend Christmas far from family, so we host a huge Christmas dinner for friends from work and church who can’t travel home to be with their families. I spend all day smoking a ton of meat and then we enjoy it with as many families as we can pack into our house.
I think last year we had 40 plus folks in our house counting kids!
We also have an Israeli family who join us for Christmas dinner, and we usually spend one evening of Hanukkah with them. They are dear friends and celebrating the holidays with them has become one of my most treasured traditions.
This Christmas will be a bit bittersweet in that it is the first Christmas in which the Bentley family won’t be together. My oldest son is a Marine, and he’ll be spending Christmas overseas. We’re incredibly proud of his service, but we’ll miss him terribly.
I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas and Hanukkah!
