The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I think college was the first time I realized what a unique and fabulous relationship some people have with their cousins. I grew up with cousins that I genuinely loved, but they weren't my very best friends. We didn't do all the things together and share a lifetime of hilarious memories and inside jokes. When I would hear friends talk about their relationships with their cousins, it intrigued me. My kids, also, have wonderful cousins that they love and adore and get excited to see . . . but they don't have that "magical" cousin relationship either. The majority of our kids' cousins live far away geographically and the others are "far away" from them in age.

So this is where the family that you choose for yourself comes in handy. My kids have wonderful "cousins" from our amazing community. Other kids with whom they share a lifetime of fun, hard, silly memories. Kids with a special bond, not from the fact that they are friends, but from the fact that entire families love spending time together. First birthday parties (stories they don't actually remember on their own, but have been told enough times to "know"), swimming in the pool, kindergarten programs, school stuff, retreats, orchestra concerts, karaoke, sledding, summer evening bonfires, plays, sporting events, carpools, picnics, birthday parties, funerals, YoungLife, before school Bible study . . .

Years ago we used to have an annual Christmas Open House. We'd invited tons of friends, have a bunch of food and hang out, our house filled with 50-60 friends. We were packed to the gills! One year, 4 or 5 years ago, there was a HUGE snow storm the day of our party. No one could get here! We didn't want anyone to be unsafe on the road, so finally we officially canceled. So, then we had TONS of food, but were lacking guests (and had a few sad kiddos . . . and disappointed parents). Thankfully, our dear friends, who both lived just blocks from our house and were planning to come anyway, braved the weather and came anyway. Some on foot, some in all-wheel-drive with shovels in back just in case. We ate and chatted and played games and sang songs and it was wonderful! Anyway, the tradition stuck. We haven't had a Christmas Open House since (at which you had lots of very minimal time with many people, but no meaningful time with anyone) and every year our 3 families have gathered for a meal and night together right before Christmas. It has become one of my favorite traditions of the year!

We put it on the calendar weeks ago and have been looking forward to it ever since. By 5:45 there were 18 people in our house and it. was. LOUD! A little after 6 we all gathered in the living room and sang The Doxology together before digging in to the dinner (which always has the same menu and TONS of food). Singing the Doxology together, instead of our normal pre-dinner prayer of thanks for the food and the friends and the birth of our Lord, was new this year and I loved it! Looking around at all these people that I love singing praise and thanks to the Lord together filled my heart (and my eyes) right up to the top (and maybe even a bit more). We ate, we chatted (which was tricky . . . if you were trying to hear someone that wasn't right next to you, you had to work really hard to hear them above the din of 12 kids, aged 5-18, who were enjoying each other's company with quite a bit of volume!), we laughed, we got teary. The kids cleared out. To the basement. Upstairs. To play hockey on the front porch. And we sat. The moms on one couch and the dads on the other.

Then, a couple hours later, Kirb turned on our player piano (also a MAJOR part of this annual tradition) and the kids came pouring in from every corner of the house with amazing speed and the fun really began. We sang together around the piano. Silent Night. The 12 days of Christmas (I'm always a bit uncertain once we get up past 5! Is it lords-a-leaping or drummers drumming? I usually just sing the numbers until we get down to 5 when I join in 100% again). Rudolf. Let it Snow. We probably have at least a couple dozen Christmas songs for our piano, but we seem to gravitate to the same half dozen or so for this night. Then, too quickly, people don their coats once again and head home for the night.

We clean up dishes, put kids to bed and bask in the wonderful time that we had, once again . . . and start looking forward 365 days until we can do it again. I know I've painted an idillic picture, but it really is an idilic night! Generally speaking, our lives all have tough things. Hurts. Pain. Sickness. Sorrow. Struggles. (Many of which we discussed in the time between The Doxology and Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer) But this night is a great reminder of all that we have to be grateful for. Good friends who are like family. Happy, healthy children. Shared faith. Fun. Laughter. Friendship. I thought, as I looked around the room, all of us gathered together in one place singing "Praise God from whom all blessings flow", that this is pretty much as happy as I get. Happy. Grateful. Contented. Blessed. Life is good! Thank you Lord!

(I didn't take one single picture -- only the ones in my memory -- but Lydia took a video of one of our sing-a-long numbers and if I can figure out how, I'll post it here for your viewing pleasure).

Flashback Friday

A Christmas-picture Story::

In case you haven't heard . . . or have forgotten, I give you the story behind our traditional "bed picture" at Christmas time:: When Jacob was not quite 1 we wanted a family picture to put in our Christmas card. We took quite a few (non-digital, I might add!) and the one we liked best was of the 3 of us laying on our bed. The next year it was just the 3 of us again and we decided to try and recreate the picture since it had turned out so cute . . . and thus began an unintentional Stoll family tradition of the bed picture. For the 2nd year in a row, our "bed" is a fake. It's not really a bed. And it's not in our house (as was the case the first 13 times we took "the bed picture". Last year it was warm and our "bed" was outside. This year it was chillier and so when we were celebrating Thanksgiving at a retreat center a little ways north of our house, we made our "bed" there and took our 2013 picture. I don't know how much longer this tradition can hold out. Even our fake makeshift "bed" is growing too small for all of us to fit. The kids just keep growing (even though their parents are smaller in this years picture than they were last year, by about 70 pounds) and it's getting harder and harder to pull it off. It takes much bribery and trickery already! 2013 marks the 15th anniversary of the Stoll family "bed" picture. 14 years and 5 more kids later, we're all still on the "bed" for our annual picture.

rebekah, jacob, joe, shana, anna, kirby, sara & lydia :: 2013

and a little flashback for you, starting where it all began. here are more than a decade worth of stoll christmas pictures. enjoy::

kirby, shana & jacob :: 1999

kirby, [pregnant] shana, jacob :: 2000

kirby, jacob, [pregnant] shana, rebekah :: 2001

rebekah, kirby, jacob, shana, lydia :: 2002

kirby, lydia, jacob, shana, rebekah :: 2003

kirby, [pregnant] shana, lydia, jacob, rebekah :: 2004

jacob, kirby, joe, shana, rebekah, lydia :: 2005

jacob, kirby, rebekah, shana, joe, lydia :: 2006
kirby, jacob, rebekah, joe, [pregnant] shana, lydia :: 2007

kirby, lydia, anna, joe, shana, jacob, rebekah :: 2008

jacob, anna, kirby, rebekah, joe, lydia [not quite pregnant] shana :: 2009

kirby, joe, shana, teeny baby sara, rebekah, anna, jacob, lydia :: 2010

kirby, anna, shana, sara, joe, jacob, lydia, rebekah :: 2011

kirby, joe, jake, anna, shana, lydia, sara & rebekah :: 2012

flasback friday

my favorite picture of our whole crew from christmas 2008::

multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that I read each day. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing writer and an inspiration!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

1839. sickies home from school playing board games together
1840. preschool Christmas programs {our 9th one at RLNS}::1841. going to the mailbox to find it FULL of Christmas greetings
1842. seeing and catching up with old friends {all the more fun when it's completely unexpected}
1843. successfully finishing all my Christmas crafting {and not a moment too soon, I might add!}
1844. no major injuries for Sara after her run-in with a flight of stairs::1845. how quickly kids heal! {praise God!}
1846. Jacob all snuggled up on the couch reading this book :: warms this math geek's heart!
1847. Christmas program at Seabury {Kirb on trumpet, vocals and reading from Luke 2, Jacob on trumpet and piano, Rebekah on piano and Lydia on piano and violin. Joe passed out the song sheets and Anna did a few unscheduled piano interludes!}
1848. the joy of giving!
1849. a fun, new game
1850. FAMILY!::1851. 11pm candlelight Christmas Eve service {Beka was the only Stoll kiddo to stay awake until the end :: she was rewarded by holding her very own candle as we formed a circle around the sanctuary to sing Silent Night}
1852. going to church on Christmas morning sans coat :: in Minnesota! so very weird!
1853. a walk with "the littles" to the park on a glorious {although it would be so pretty with a bit of snow!} Christmas afternoon
1854. a Christmas day nap
1855. much-appreciated, much-loved, heartfelt gifts::1856. my newly outfitted winter-proof workshop in the garage {new propane heater, shop light and workbench :: thanks Kirb for the set-up!}
1857. a clean basement

Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Flash mobs always make me cry, but then again, I cry at pretty much everything. Just be warned, you might want to get some kleenex for this one. On the off chance that I wasn't already crying, the whole "fall on your knees" at the end made a COMPLETE mess of me::

Have a wonderful, Christ-filled Christmas!

flashback friday {a day late}

Merry Christmas

from a certain little Stoll Santa baby from the past::
{check out those cute little "toofers"}::

Hope you are enjoying time with loved ones and the celebration of the birth of the Savior of the world::

With love, hugs and a little drool,
The Stoll crew

thankful thursday

Today I'm thankful for :: grace.

I have been gifted with grace many times. By my family {daily . . . often even hourly, or more}. By my friends. By my God!

Today I'm thankful for grace from you. I got about 80% of my Christmas cards out of my house and in the mail about 2 weeks ago. The other 20% are still on my dining room table. Well, honestly, I didn't really check my list when ordering {OOPS!}, so I ran out. But then I made some more {since the minimum order for the picture cards we got the first time around was 50 and I didn't need 50 more -- but then again I didn't count the second time around either, so maybe I did need 50! -- I just decided to make the remainder, with a re-do of my 2008 card adding Sara's name to the list and calling it good!, instead of re-ordering the picture cards}, but I haven't gotten around to actually addressing and mailing them . . . and Christmas eve is tomorrow!

So, here is the Stoll Christmas letter 2010 and our 12th annual bed picture. Enjoy! {and if you are one of the 80% that did get yours you can skip this all together or read it again. It's up to you.}::

A is for Anna: Anna will be 3 soon and is (mostly) delightful. She is funny and pretty cute and we love her lots!

B is for Blessings: Our lives are so full of blessings. We have much to be thankful for!

C is for CBC: We worship at Central Baptist Church in St. Paul, and love our church family there!

D is for Dad: Kirby, the dad of the house, better enjoy the coming year as it marks his last full year in his 30’s!

E is for ER: 2 ER visits in 2 weeks this summer. Staples in the top of Jacob’s head and stitches in Anna’s forehead. Both are healed up just fine!

F is for Falcon: 4 of our kiddos are attending Falcon Heights Elementary this year. By the time Sara heads to middle school, one of our kids (if not 2 or 3 or 4) will have been there each year for just shy of two decades!

G is for Grade 6: That’s what grade Jacob is in this year. (I can’t believe next year he’ll go to middle school.) He is a bus patrol, plays trumpet in the band and loves all things football!

H is for Home: We still live in the same place. We love our house, our neighborhood and our community. Stop over and see us anytime; you’re always welcome here!

I is for Internet: I continue to enjoy updating the world on the life of our family through our family blog. Come visit there too, if you want!

J is for Jesus: We are so thankful for our Lord and Savior, and celebrate His birth this Christmas.

K is for Kindergarten: Ready or not, Falcon now has Joey bursting through its doors each day. It’s a struggle to get him to head off to school most days, but once he arrives he LOVES it. He’s doing great, continues to be the family “ham” and necessitates earplug use for the other 7 of us much of the time!

L is for Library: Our neighborhood library was closed for a year while they remodeled. It re-opened this summer (twice as big) and we’re so glad to have it back! I LOVE to read and am, I imagine, one of their better customers. The “littles” and I enjoy storytime there each week.

M is for Mom: That’s me, the mom. I keep plenty busy and most days (though not all) enjoy the crazy life we lead! Card-making, MOPS, Target trips, friends, reading, Caribou, church, a date here and there, the Y, PTA, ECFE: that’s my life!

N is for Nephew: Our newest little nephew, Schaeffer, was born to my brother Luke and his wife, Jenn, in August. He joins Haddon to round out their extra-good-looking family. We are glad they live close and the kids have nearby cousins to play with, grow up with and love!

O is for October 9th: The very best day of our year, without rival, was 10.9.10 when we welcomed our new little bundle. (more on her under “S”).

P is for Parents: We both have wonderful parents and continue to enjoy the time we spend with them, and our families in general. As always, we wish we were able to spend more time with Kirby’s parents (and extended family), but no one seems to be moving, so I guess we’ll have to make due. We continue to be thankful to have my parents (and my grandma!) so close, and for the fact that they are such a HUGE part of our lives!

Q is for Quotes: We hope you enjoy the annual Stoll Quotes from 2010 (they’re on the back)!

R is for Rebekah: Rebekah is in 4th grade and will soon turn double-digits. She continues to be the mom of the family — I’m pretty sure she is more nurturing than I am. (It’s good she doesn’t lactate or I’d be completely out of a job!)

S is for Sara: Sara Evelyn is a delight! Everyone is head over heels in love with her and we are thrilled God saw fit to bless us with this little doll!

T is for Third: Lydia is in 3rd grade this year and continues to love life more than most . . . except, that is, when she’s mad and then, watch out world!

U is for Ugly: Ok, so it’s not really ugly, but it sure does stand out in a “crowd”. We traded in our mini van for a 12-passenger Chevy Express last spring and now the whole world knows when I’m at Target, since you can spot our big van from most anywhere in Roseville!

V is for Vince: I continue to do daycare for a fabulous little man every other week while his mom goes to work. We love Vince and he has become a regular member of the family!

W is for Work: Kirb just started his 9th year of work at Northwestern College. We are thankful for his job and all it means to our family.

X is for X-tra great: We have been blessed with an extra fabulous circle of family and friends who love and support us through life. If you are reading this, then you are a part of that circle and we are thankful for you!

Y is for YMCA: We continue to enjoy being part of our local Y. We enjoy the free childcare, the activities and the opportunity to keep our bodies in some semblance of “fit”. We love spending the summer at the outdoor pool with friends and watching Rebekah swim on the swim team.

Z is for zzzz: Hopefully reading the Stoll ABC’s hasn’t put you to sleep, but sleep is something each of us at the Stoll house could benefit from a little (or a lot) more of, but such is the life of a big family with little kids, right? There will always be opportunities for more sleep at some point in the future, I’m hoping!

The Stoll kid quotes that are on the back of our Christmas letter are, conveniently, located right over there ------------------------> on the sidebar, so I won't list them here again.

Merry, Merry Christmas from our family!

thankful thursday

From Isaiah, chapter 9

1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress.
2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.

Flashback Friday

christmas 2005

merry christmas to you!

A little of this and a little of that

The Santa Baby in the picture from Friday's post was Joe. Most of you got it right; way to go! Congrats to Amanda, Rachel, Jenn, Mary, Melanie, Sandy, Tricia, Michelle & J who all guessed and/or answered correctly. We had a few other great guesses {those Stoll babies can be tricky, they all look so much alike at first . . . when I had Rebekah, I literally said to Kirby, "I already had this baby, I thought I was getting a different one this time." She looked, as a newborn, SO much like Jacob had it kinda freaked me out!} I'm not random-number-generator high tech or anything like that, but I asked Rebekah to pick a number between 1 and 9 {since there were 9 correct answers} -- I would have asked Joe since he was the subject of the whole contest, but I'm not completely confident in his ability to really know what numbers there are between 1 & 9 so I went with Rebekah since she is completely capable of counting correctly all the way to 9! She picked 6, so the lucky winner is Sandy. Way to go, my dear! I'll send you your super fantastic Shana-made prize ASAP . . . maybe it'll even arrive in time for you to re-gift it to someone you forgot to get something for. Don't hold your breath, it won't really be all that terrific, but I'm sure you are honored to even win, right?

In case there wasn't enough going on right now, we've also embarked on this project:
Actually my parents are doing all the work. Giving a facelift to Rebekah and Lydia's "new" room is my parents Christmas gift to them. {they redid the boys room for Christmas in 2007}. Don't tell, but tomorrow fun new bedding will be added to to the makeover! The room is not quite done yet, but the painting part is all completed. Now we just need to finish putting stuff back where it belongs, hang a few things on the walls and make up the new beds and it will be a very Merry Christmas indeed! Here are a few pictures as things are now:

Here's the color we went with. I don't know what it's officially called, but we call it orange:

The Sara Groves Christmas concert on Friday night was absolutely wonderful! I just love her music, her storytelling, her passion, her adorable kids {the oldest of which is named Kirby!}, her style and what her music has meant to me and in my life. In case you don't know her music {shame on you!} these are a few of my favorites: this one is so moving, this one is so very true and this one is like the story of my life {and it's Rebekah's favorite!} and every parent can relate to this {hilarious!} one. Her music resonates with me like nothin' else I've ever heard! Amazing stuff! The concert was wonderful, worshipful and long {3 hours!}. Worth every penny . . . and even more, but don't tell her that or she might up the prices next time around and I'm all about a good deal! But if, per chance, you know her well enough to actually tell her that anyway, next time you talk to her tell her I said "Hi" and that I think if we actually met {well, I guess technically we have met . . . twice . . . but standing in line the night of a concert when she met 80 zillion other people doesn't quite count, I don't think!} we could be quite wonderful pals!

Christmas is in 5 days and I still have quite a few gifts left that I need to finish making! Yikes! I had a huge chunk of time yesterday to work on making Christmas gifts. One project that I had never attempted before, but wanted to make for 4 or 5 people on my list was a total bust. I couldn't get it to work out at all and after a couple hours {ok, maybe it wasn't a couple hours, but it felt like it!} of success-less work I gave up and scratched that idea . . . but now I have to come up with something else for those people. They were gonna be so cool too . . . I'll try again when I have a little more time to experiment. I'm determined to get it to work! Then, the next thing I attempted was also something I had never made before, but I had made other very similar things so I knew I could pull it off. What I didn't calculate correctly was how very long it would take. It turned out amazing. Fun, cute and exactly how I wanted it to turn out, so that is great. Unfortunately, though, it took about 5 times longer to make than I expected it would. So, that shot my big chunk of time. I should actually be working on the rest of the stuff right now and not blogging, but alas . . .

Joey's preschool program is tomorrow. It's gonna be so cute. My grandma {the kid's GG -- you know, Great Grandma} is going to accompany the group and she is just as excited {if not more so} as Joe! I can't wait!

I can tell I've been spending lots of time downstairs working in my office {where my computer also is} because I just got an email from Pandora saying that I was close to approaching my 40-hour limit of free listening for the month of December. Since I don't want to pay the 99 cents for unlimited listening for the remainder of the month I'll just have to pace myself or actually listen to my own music or just work in silence or something.

For about the past 2 weeks or so Anna has reverted to not sleeping through the night. She's been waking up a time or two each night. The kicker is that when she wakes all up crying all she wants is Zho Zho {think Zha Zha Gabor . . . that's kinda how she says "Joe Joe"}. As it turns out {thanksfully} "Zho Zho" is usually sleeping at 2am, so we don't really indulge that desire! But, boy does she want him and she's all the more mad when I tell her he's sleeping . . . and, as it turns out, so is the entire rest of the family. Hopefully she'll cycle back to sleeping all night again real soon. But for now I find it sweet how enamored those 2 are with each other. None of our other kids have ever been quite so love-y with a sibling. It's pretty cute. What a pair!

Well, I think that's all the weekend updates that I've got. Kirb isn't feeling 100%, so I hope he doesn't get much worse and I really, really hope he doesn't get what I had. That would be terrible!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Thankful Thursday

I am so thankful for these . . . and SO excited to use them tomorrow night with my favorite person around! Just. can't. wait!

welcome to 2002!

the nice man from qwest is coming sometime between 12 and 5 today to free me from dial-up. i wouldn't quite call it "high speed", but it will be a huge improvement! (thanks mom & dad -- this was one of my christmas presents. arguably one of my very favorites!) i can't wait! the stoll's have officially entered 2002, maybe in another 20 years we'll get cable, or i might even get myself an ipod or something else equally as amazing!

about 4ish this morning i "woke up" to change positions in bed (with joe sleeping peacefully next to me, i might add, all stretched out and takin' up half the bed) and realized i must have been sleeping weird on my right arm because the whole thing was completely asleep. i punched myself in the face twice trying to get my arm to cooperate. now that is a weird sensation!

it's still completely freezing here. today it might make it up to 1 (but i won't count on it) and tomorrow is supposed to be the coldest day yet -- as it turns out yesterday, which never got above -2, and had windchills of over 30 below wasn't the worst of it . . . joy!

next time i post it will go so much faster. yeah!

flashback friday

christmas morning 2005

a very stoll-y christmas to you!

ok, i tried to condense our wonderful christmas eve into a few pictures and wasn't super successful. but, i did get it down to under a dozen . . . chosen from a good couple hundred, so you really SHOULD be impressed, right?

we had a wonderful day yesterday celebrating the birth of our savior and the preciousness of family being together! the afternoon family service at roseville lutheran was beautiful and meaningful. we had a blast at ama & bopbop's house with a yummy dinner, family and great gifts as a bonus! we were all really tired and had a little trouble mustering enthusiasm to go out in the cold to the 11 o'clock service at church, but were blessed by going: seeing friends, worshipful music, lots of great hugs, wishes of merry christmas, some beautiful candles and a great time of reflection. i told a few people that they got anna's precious baby sounds at no extra charge to add to the feel of the night . . . celebrating the birth of our savior as a precious little babe born to a young virgin. anna chimed in at exactly the right times when it added to the intended meaning of the moment. good job, sweet girl! (she's especially bright i think!)

here's a little visual re-cap of our celebration for ya:

merry christmas . . . stoll style!

just a little excited?? if you know lydia very well at all, you can tell a lot from these pictures . . . as they say: "worth a thousand words!" make that 2,000!

yup, he's in tears! (and was speechless for at least 45 seconds!) he has asked for an ipod for, i think, 3 years now. those amazing grandparents: they outdid themselves and made many wishes come true for their favorite kiddos all in a matter of minutes!

rebekah and kit! so happy!!

the 6 "carlson" cousins: anna, jacob, joe, lydia, rebekah & haddon

now it's anna's turn to open a present: "yumm. you gotta love a delicious gift tag following her supper of ham and potatoes!"

joe asked santa for a mr. potato head and a thomas the tank engine: and we have another winner!! so many happy children . . . (ok, so i know he might not LOOK super happy to you, but trust me, he was!)


haddon's first christmas . . . look how much he's lovin' it: check out that sweet face. chillin' with his wonderful parents luke and jenn!

the 2 newest memebers of our family, molly & kit, with their proud mamma's

the 2008 mother's of the year and their precious babes (alright, there was no official vote or anything, but all the people in the room at the time would have agreed we were the mother's of the year . . . although they might be a little biased.)

ama & bopbop with their newest little grandbaby

praise God for the birth of his Son and reason to celebrate this day!

celebrations!

well, it's here: christmas! christmas eve has always been the "big" day for my family and that is how i still think of it. we're just relaxing at home at the moment, but at 3:00 we are going to a family christmas eve service at a church in our neighborhood where the kids go to preschool -- it's our 2nd church "home". then we'll head over to my parents for the carlson christmas celebration and gift opening! then off to the 11:00 candlelight service at central . . . one of my favorite services of the year (i know, i said that about the thanksgiving service. what can i say . . . i love church!). followed by a [mostly likely overly tired, slightly crabby] trip home and then quickly we'll be off to bed. tomorrow we'll head over to my grandma's for yet another celebration. oh yeah, and friday morning (early) i'll be shoppin'!

merry christmas!

merry christmas everyone!
have a wonderful day of celebrating with those who are most special to you!
i have always loved this song and it's message. [this should NOT surprise you, since i am, admittedly, a huge fan of babies!] i thought you might enjoy pondering it a little bit today amidst your celebrating . . . what an amazing gift we received thousands of years ago in the form of a tiny little babe!

this baby
by: steven curtis chapman

well, he cried when he was hungry
did all the things that babies do
he rocked and he napped on his mother’s lap
he wiggled and giggled and cooed
there were the cheers when he took his first step
and the tears when he got his first teeth
almost everything about this little baby
seemed as natural as it could be.

but this baby made the angels sing
and this baby made a new star shine in the sky
this baby had come to change the world.
this baby was God’s own son,
this baby was like no other one
this baby was God with us,
this baby was Jesus.

and this baby grew into a young boy
who learned to read and write and wrestle with dad
there was the climin’ of trees and the scrapin’ of knees
and all the fun that a boy's born to have
he grew taller and some things started changing
like his complexion and the sound of his voice
there was work to be done as a carpenter’s son
and all the neighbors said "he’s such a fine boy"

but this boy made the angels sing.
this boy made a new start shine in the sky
this boy had come to change the world.
this boy was God’s own son,
this boy was like no other one
this boy was God with us.

this boy became a man
and love made him laugh
and death made him cry
with the life that he lived
and the death that he died
he showed us heaven with his hands and his heart
‘cause this man was God’s own son.
this man was like no other one
holy and human right from the start.

this baby made the angels sing.
this baby made a new star shine in the sky
this baby had come to change the world.
this baby was God’s own son,
this baby was like no other one.
this baby was God with us,
this baby was Jesus.
this baby was Jesus,
this baby was Jesus.

merry, merry christmas!
happy birthday Jesus!