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.

What We're Thankful For...

1. Aunt Laur-Laur to be crazy and have fun with!



2. Sweet babies that are so kissable and lovable!



3. A wonderful daddy to break the wishbone with on Thanksgiving!



4. The greatest husband in the world!

5. An Uncle Brad whose just as much a kid as you are :-) and his sweet wife, Aunt Nova!



6. A brother to be your friend for life, and that one day you might actually look kind of like!


7. The sweetest 4 year old in the whole world!

8. And of course, silly putty.

9. We'll add grandparents to that list, who are always BEHIND the camera.
10. And my poor family, who without my mother-in-law there, I fail to get pictures of.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving with your family this year! Now it's time for this guy...

HO HO HO

or AAAARGH

However you prefer bearded guys at Christmas time!

Updated: Happy Thanksgiving!!!

From our little Pilgrims

or Indian and PilgrimWe are so blessed and therefore have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
Elijah's memory verse from school this month sticks out in my mind right now:
"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures forever."

and
Judah is 7 months old today!!!

Want to teach your children to be thankful for their shoes during this time of Thanksgiving? Click on the button below and buy 2 children in need a pair of shoes for $5! I think tonight I'll be sitting Elijah down and explaining to him how blessed he is to have one or two or three pairs of shoes when some children have none!

Double Trouble

And the big one...look out world, here he comes!


I can't believe he's doing this at SIX MONTHS OLD!!! I'm used to my little laid back Elijah who crawled at around 9 months and was 14 1/2 months before he walked. Judah may be walking by 9 months old - yikes!

How You Know It's Starting to Get Cold...

I just LOVE little winter hats!!!

Just for fun, here's Elijah at about the same age with his winter hat on:

More Cute Pictures

Feeding the ducks with friends:

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

Jason here. This blog is about to get slightly political, so if you’re here today for a healthy dose of pictures of the cutest kids in the world and fun stories and anecdotes you may want to skip this post and read the new one immediately following. That being said…

I am a Christian and I voted for Barack Obama. I know, I know…I’m asking for it. I recently saw on another blog where a good friend of ours made an even lesser confession than this. She made the audacious assertion that perhaps we as Christians should have concerns beyond the issue of abortion. Maybe we should also be concerned about which candidate will better care for the poor and marginalized. Maybe being pro life extends beyond the unborn child to those suffering from extreme poverty and those dying as a result of war. This person made very clear that they were an undecided voter at this point and they were merely asking questions, yet from that point on she was vilified by the other people leaving comments. Her character and intelligence were called in to question as people espoused the most radical viewpoints about Obama and the infamous “liberals” (accurate or not). All while invoking the name of God.

Now before folks get all hot & bothered let me be clear about a couple of things. I am pro life. I am fundamentally opposed to the practice of abortion. I appreciate the Republican view on the issue and I was glad to see the Democratic party add to their platform their desire to reduce the number of abortions taking place in America. I do however, like our friend, favor an expanded definition of pro-life. I believe a person has to seriously question the death penalty, particularly with the number of convictions of death row inmates that have been overturned based upon DNA evidence. I believe that no one should lose their life due to lack of food or proper health care. My heart breaks for the unborn child and those losing their lives in an unjust war. That goes for our troops, the Iraqi Christians that are being killed and persecuted due to our presence and all the Iraqi people regardless of religious beliefs. (**Note: A person can support the troops and honor their sacrifice without approving of a war that was entered into under false pretenses**). I also believe God has called us to care for the poor and oppressed, to seek justice and be good stewards of His creation. I also believe that there is an EXTREME issue when being a Christ follower automatically means you must vote for a particular party, regardless of which party that is.

I know that there are people who disagree with me on some of these issues. There are people who disagree with me that are intelligent and have a high degree of character and integrity. If someone claims they are a follower of Christ who am I to question this because we have differing political opinions? This extends to the candidates as well. I’ve heard it suggested that Barack Obama would lead this country while being led by something other than the Holy Spirit. Contrary to what your e-mails may say, Barack Obama is a Christian. While I’m sure that president-elect Obama and myself have some different viewpoints when it comes to religion, my understanding is if you are a Christ follower you have the gift of the Holy Spirit. If Obama claims to be a Christ follower then he is my brother and I will not judge his relationship with God.

Also, we all need to realize that neither Obama nor McCain (who I have a great deal of respect for) were ever going to solve all of our problems. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that no president has ever lived up to everything they’ve promised in their campaign. You can have hope in candidates but we need to take a step back & realize that God is in control regardless of who is in the white house or what political party is in power.

I could go on for a while but let me sum it up like this. “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” If people listen to our comments in regards to politics will they see love or will they see hatred & judgment? This goes for both sides of the political spectrum. Maybe it’s time we turned off Rush Limbaugh, Bill Maher, Sean Hannity & Michael Moore and their ilk and talk to each other rather than yell at each other. If you want to have a respectful discussion over the issues by all means do so, but let’s do so with GRACE & PEACE.

This blog will now resume it’s regularly scheduled programming.