Christmas Photos, Take Two

Pictures from Christmas Day with Jason's family:





I don't think everyone is participating in the goofy picture :-)




Aunt Lauren & Judah


Love those big blue eyes - Happy 1st Christmas baby boy!


Elijah's fun new race track




He loves his vibrating teether - those top two teeth are trying to come in!


Hmm, this picture is a little depressing after Sunday's game. :-(






We had a GREAT time! Now, on to Little Rock this Friday for our annual visit with Jason's grandfather - can't wait! Happy New Year to you!

Our Holly Jolly Christmas

Okay, get ready for hordes of pictures of activities over the last couple of weeks.

First, instead of gifts each year we do activities together with my family. A couple of weekends ago we went to Waxahachie to eat and go "ice" skating (it's not real ice, some fake stuff that's not even cold but it worked and the kids loved it without getting wet in the process).

Here's our crazy group skating


My niece Katherine with Elijah


My nephew Andrew with his girlfriend Lindsey. I can't believe that Andrew is 17 and driving! I was 11 when he was born and I remember it so vividly.


My mom and sister with Judah




Elijah with his cousin Jonathan


Katherine and Judah had matching hats!


Then we went to Bethlehem Revisited in Waxahachie - a reenactment of the night Jesus was born with this whole little town set up to resemble Bethlehem. It was really neat and the kids had fun participating in some of the Bible times activities.




Not long ago we made cookies at Ellie's house with friends



Random cute picture of my boys


On the 23rd, we went to Six Flags with my family as well. It was COLD but we had a great time and there were hardly any lines - much better than last year! Elijah was tall enough to ride even the Shockwave - I nearly cried when he said he wanted to do it but thankfully for me he decided not to when they got up to it. Shew...I think I would have had a heart attack! He did some other big rides though and had a lot of fun.

Here he is at the snow hill




The kids participated in a show as well - they got to sing Jingle Bells into the microphone and dance - it was really cute!


Opening presents on Christmas Eve. I think Judah had a great first Christmas and of course loved the paper! :-)




Jason got a harmonica with neck holder from me. He's going to be a regular one man band with his guitar in hand!


Presents from my mom (we let her cheat and get the grandkids one thing each because she can't stand not to :-) For our service project this year with my family, each individual took $10 to bless someone we didn't know or someone in need this holiday season. We had to keep our eyes and ears open everywhere we went!






Chrismas morning! Happy 8 months to Judah!






Birthday party for Jesus and then we talked about his birth and why it's so important


Stay tuned for more adorable pictures from Christmas Day with Jason's family, including this cutie pie - Judah Clause!

Merry Christmas!

Jingle Bells - Preschool Style

All He Gets for Christmas Are His 2 Bottom Teeth

Okay, maybe we'll let him have a little more than that! Even though he's making a funny face, aren't his two little teeth so cute?!?! And yes, he can bite with them, just so you know.

After my ranting on feeling pressured to get the Santa picture each year, here it is - ha! To clarify though, we found this dude for FREE at the Bass Pro Shop and they let you use your own camera. Now, that's my kind of Santa!

Hope you and your family are enjoying this holiday season!

Saddened

I was just sitting here thinking about this Christmas season and not believing that Christmas is only a few weeks away. Then I remembered this story that Jason told me about the other day.

Wal-Mart worker trampled to death by frenzied Black Friday shoppers

is the headline. Wow. Is that what Christmas has become? Is this what the holiday spirit is all about? Reading this made me really, really sad.

I enjoy a lot of things about Christmas but I am really struggling with this. I am desperately trying to teach Elijah not to buy into the lie that Christmas is all about getting, what is Santa going to bring, he wants this $70 dinosaur toy that he saw at Target, etc, etc. All of these things are fun and everything, but if you ask him what Christmas is all about, he'll tell you that it's about Jesus' birthday. So simple and yet I know he doesn't fully understand it all and of course still talks about Santa and toys and stockings, but I hope that one day he will truly get it. I am doing several service type projects with him this year to try to get the message through his head that it's more fun to give than to receive. So far he is really enjoying it and already talking about who he can give his old toys to and who might need his shoes that have gotten too small. And I'm not saying that it's wrong to have Santa a part of Christmas, that's up to you and what feels right for your family. Elijah talks about Santa but we don't encourage it and make it a big deal. When he gets all excited about Santa, we tell him that's for fun but the real reason is Jesus.

What is it going to take to get that message through to the majority of America, majority of the world for that matter? Christmas is no longer fun when it's an obligation to give and to give big. It's not that I don't want to give gifts to people - of course I love that - what I hate is the obligation one day of the year and buying something because you have to, even if you were desperately trying to find anything, absolutely anything, that they will like or don't already own. I refuse to let that be what Christmas is about in my household. I would love to hear any traditions you have in your family that keep Jesus as the center of it all.

Every year I feel the pressure of decorating my house, making Christmas cards, putting lights on the house, visiting Santa at the mall, decorating my blog (ha!) and participating in every Christmas activity I can. I enjoy some of these things but the pressure is there nonetheless and I do them because a lot of times I feel that if I don't then I'm a scrooge or people will think we're weird(oh no! :-) In a world full of materialism and acquiring the next big thing, what can we do to turn that around? There has to be a balance between enjoying Christmas traditions/keeping Jesus as the focus/helping those that are in need, that I have yet to find.

I recommend What Would Jesus Buy that we watched last year. Humorous but a very good message at Christmastime.