Susan Hines-Brigger

Recently my husband and I went on a date…to the grocery store…without our four kids. Exciting, right? For us it was. It was wonderful and exciting because it was the closest thing we’ve had to a date night in a long time. Welcome to life in the second stage of marriage.

Seeing all the celebration that surrounds Jesus’s birth, it seems appropriate that we should likewise celebrate how special each of us is.

The signs and bumper stickers that read “Jesus is the reason for the season” are absolutely right. All that we celebrate during this Christmas season began with that birth so many years ago in a manger in Bethlehem.

The family connection is a strong one. And it is a blessing. As my oldest daughter, Maddie, said to her brother, Alex, once: “You have to love me, I’m your sister. You have no choice.”

My daughter Riley is an animal lover. After our dog Hobbes passed away, she carried around a ceramic Yorkshire—complete with Hobbes’s old collar and leash—until we got a new puppy. Riley has great concern for all animals, including birds during the winter months.