Christmastime is Here

Merry Christmas!



What a wonderful time of the year! I was concerned before the day of Christmas arrived that things just didn't feel like Christmas. Last week I was constantly on the go, preparing, cleaning, cooking...only to rest during the nighttime, which recently hasn't provided much rest (more on that later). I felt overwhelmed and frustrated and tired, which is NOT showing my usually overwhelming positive Christmas spirit.



However, when Saturday morning arrived, it didn't take long for me to pop right into the excitement and joy of the day. We spent the night with my parents on Christmas Eve and woke up to one very excited little sister who was actually disappointed she had slept until 7:00?! Santa is a big deal in my house. We began our morning by reading the Christmas story from Luke. Chels read it at the top of the steps before we went down.



As soon as she finished, with the video camera rolling, we all four (sisters+me+Blake) walked down the steps to our respective Santa stacks. I wish I had taken a picture of this every year. The gifts come from every corner, and the stockings are overflowing. We are blessed beyond measure and I can only be more and more thankful every year.



One of our favorite gifts this year was a Canon EOS T1i. Hello amazing camera?! To show you why its my favorite, I took some pictures of our house decorated for Christmas. I got home today in a state of nostalgia and wanting to remember everything about this Christmas...not only because it was our first white Christmas, but because it is our last Christmas as a family of 2.



Here is our Christmas Tree. Funny story-we went to the Farmer's Market like we do every year and wanted a bigger tree than the one we had last year. Assuming (key word) that our ceiling is a 12-footer, we got a 12 foot tree. We realized, once we got it in the house, that the ceiling is in fact 11 1/2 feet high. Needless to say, Blake did a little cutting after that. The tree turned out beautiful, though!





Our mantle...on the sides you see Carolers...these are all passed down from my mom's mom. Mom has lots at her house, and I usually get one for Christmas every year. This year I got a Mrs. Clause!


This is one of my favorite Christmas areas. This is our piano, also passed down from my grandmother, with the most beautiful Nativity Scene ever. It is the Willow Tree Angel scene, given to me as a wedding present from a group of amazing women at school. It is absolutely beautiful!


Here is our sitting area in the kitchen.


Lastly, here is the front door in the living room.


Christmas was wonderful this year, but I think my best memory will be with my class. This year, we really dove into the Christmas story. We were able to look into the perspectives of each character - Mary, Joseph, the shepherd, the wise men, Jesus...We would write journal entries in their perspectives about what they were feeling about Jesus' arrival. When we talked about Mary, I played this song for them. One young lady, as she was switching classes, said this:
"Mrs. B, can I talk to you for a minute? You know...I've heard the Christmas story every year, and I know it is very important, but until this year and hearing that song, I never realized how emotional Christmas is!"

Now while I had to hold back the oh-you're-so-precious laughter, this young lady was right on. The kids ate our Bible time up...they would groan when it was over. I've realized that is how I should be every day! While the story of Jesus' birth is SO important and special, each story in the Bible holds importance and is vital to my role in this family of Christ. And the Bible holds so many "emotional" stories, and if I truly valued them as I should, I don't think a day would go by without me on my knees in sobs thanking our Lord.

I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas, and I pray that you were touched in a special way by remembering our Savior's birth and everything that came with it.

Here We Go...

I have recently come to the conclusion that I would really love to be like those who blog ALL the time. But not just blogging for random reasons - blogging to have memories! I have many friends who are SO good at updating their blog(hello BFF)and they have inspired me to get better!

So, for starters:

Friday was a great day! I started the morning with my family at the pool. Unfortunately, it was pretty overcast, so Mom, Dad and I sat at one of the tables and just enjoyed catching up! Dad was facing the pool and in the midst of conversation he noticed a ripple coming from a filter.

So, he got up and went over to open it up, and inside was a baby rabbit! Still alive, the little guy was quite weak and cold, but was going to be fine. I ended up taking it home with me due to the hungry hawk we had heard and seen all morning.

That same afternoon, my niece, CB (11 months), came over to spend the afternoon with her auntie Am. Now, times like this, according to Blake, are supposed to serve as birth control. However, it did quite the opposite. We had a blast! We learned how to high five and pretended to go to sleep on our bed and wake up on our bed. We just laughed and laughed! Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh...one day, through God's grace, I will have my very own and do this EVERY DAY!!!





Continuing on, I had put the rabbit in the back room so Miss CB wouldn't/couldn't get to it. Well, when Uncle Blake got home, we went back to see it, and much to our surprise it was NOT in the box! Fortunately we found it hiding under the dresser right away. Unfortunately, Blake spent the next 20 minutes chasing after the rabbit throughout our guest bedroom trying to recapture it while CB was just a laughing. She watched every move Blake and the rabbit made, making little noises that sounded like "Ehh" and "Uhh", but I interpreted them as "get it" and "I want it." Hilarious!!!When Blake finally got the rabbit, we let it go outside, and as CB watched it dash away she made sweet sounds of approval.

The rest of the evening was basically spent "playing house" and I watched my desire for a baby to join our family increase!!!

But for now, I am loving being a wife, friend, daughter, sister-in-law, daughter-in-law, sister, aunt...and I am joyfully, patiently (kinda sorta), and prayerfully awaiting for my time to be a mother.

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the sun.