Merry Christmas!

"When the wise men saw the star, they were filled with joy.  They came to the house where the child was and saw him with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.  They opened their gifts, and gave him treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh."  Matthew 2:10-11


"The angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid.  I am bringing you good news that will be a great joy to all the people.  Today your Savior was born in the town of David.  He is Christ, the Lord'."  Luke 2:10-11


"A child has been born to us; God has given a son to us.  He will be responsible for leading the people.  His name will be Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God, Father Who Lives Forever, Prince of Peace."  Isaiah 9:6


Merry Christmas!!!

Meaning of Christmas

I have been so busy trying to get everything ready around here for the kids, etc  It's so easy to get caught up in all of that and forget what Christmas is really about.  This is something I'm really thinking about this year...Why celebrate Christmas as the rest of the world?  What do I mean??  Christmas has become something so far from what it should be.  Instead of celebrating Jesus and our families, we just WANT and WANT!  Chris and I have been talking a lot lately about this.
What do we want our kids to know about Christmas?  Do we want them to know about Santa?  I think Santa is fun to do with kids.  They get so excited about getting a surprise on Christmas morning.  I always loved it when I was a child.  And while there is nothing wrong with believing in a man in a red suit bringing you presents, believing in Jesus means SO much more!  Although Jesus' birth is considered to be around a different season than Christmas time, I love the idea of setting aside a time to really focus on the birth of our Savior.  That's a celebration that is neither false or materialized!  I so want my children to know that a Savior was born into this world of sin and sadness to rescue them, to redeem them.  That to me makes Christmas the most special time of the year.
Just thought I would share some of the thoughts whirling around in my head lately.  Maybe I sound ridiculous, but I think I'm seeing things so much more clearly.

"When they saw the star, they were overjoyed."  Matthew 2:10

Home for the Holidays

Hey everyone!  Hope your week has been wonderful so far!  I am pretty much done decorating our place for Christmas and thought I would share.  It has been so fun experiencing Christmas with both of my kiddos already.  Alyssah has done great with the tree. She loves looking at it but hasn't tried to mess it up YET.  I may have just jinxed myself ;)  I still have to get her her 1st Christmas ornament and take the kids to see Santa. I think we are going Sat.  Mark is actually excited about it, but we'll see what he thinks when we get there.  I'm hoping for a smile this year [fingers crossed].  Merry Christmas...it really is the MOST wonderful time of the year!

The tree is a free-for-all this year.  I usually do a theme, but it's just a random collection this year.  I love it  :)

And the stockings were hung by the chimney, er kitchen bar area, with care ;)  I hope to have a mantle next Christmas!  Alyssah is using Mark's "Baby's 1st Christmas" stocking until I can find one that sort of matches Mark's "M" one.

Don't you just love Pinterest!!!

the kids' hallway