Merry CHRIST*mas

"Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you; he is Christ, the Lord"
~Luke 2:11

Josh trying to peek in the presents Christmas morning...he got caught

Whether or not you celebrate Christmas or not is irrelevant. It's so hard in today's world to bring the focus back to the reason why we even celebrate this day. All around us there's Santa, presents, and commercials telling us to "buy more; spend more; gotta have it all right now"... It's hard to SLOW down and take some time out to spend with your family when your kids are constantly asking you for the "latest and greatest" toy.

That's why when Jason and I got married, we discussed Chistmas and what we would do when we had kids. And I am glad we did. Here's some key things we decided:

• Christmas day is spent with just us. No going anywhere, or getting dressed. Just a time to focus on being thankful for our family that God has blessed us with and reconnecting with our kids without TV, media, or internet bombarding our bonding.
• We tell the kids the story of Santa. He was a real person who helped a lot of children. but he's not alive anymore. Yes, that's right - my kids don't believe in Santa. And I like it that way. The reason for Christmas isn't about smoe guy in a red suit with flying reindeer that you believe in from 2 - 8 and then discover he's not real?! In fact a lady at Starbucks asked Josh what Santa was bringing him for Christmas. His reply: "Santa's not alive anymore, but Jesus is!"
• We read the meaning of Christmas from the Bible and discuss what it means and why
  we even celebrate Christmas in the first place...BEFORE presents and breakfast.

It's different, I know, but it works for us and it keeps the focus on what we feel it needs to be on. Not some over-commercialized spending spree, but on a tiny baby that changed the history of the world.

We were totally blessed this Christmas season. With Jason being out of work for a month and then getting a crumby job after that, we simply did not have the funds or resources for Christmas presents. We usually get the kids only a few anyways, but a family at our church felt led to bless us and our children with a van full of gifts. It was a true testimony of how giving can make a difference and how to be the "hands and feet of Jesus."

Jayden loves his Lightening ride-on toy

Jenna had a blast with her Weebles car

Josh got a "big boy" bike with removable training wheels. He's already zooming around the neighborhood

Julianna plays "moosik" all the time :)

We try and teach our kids this as well. Every 6 months we go through the playroom and their closets and we donate toys and clothes to other people who need them. It's awesome to see the kids give and be blessed by it. And they do it without any hassle. I have been blessed by their selflessness.

Thank you for your gifts and your testimony of selflessness to our children!

Remember that Christmas isn't about us. It is about recieving the best present ever though - the baby born at night and changed the world.

Christmas Eve 2011

We usually tend to "lay low" on Christmas Eve. Not only are there crazy people out there doing last minute shopping without manners, but Jason usually has to work. This year was quite the exception. He. actually. had. off.....

Let that sink in for a moment.....

So we enjoyed a nice morning together in our jammies, not worrying about having to go anywhere. We enjoyed a nice Saturday together, and it felt like Christmas outside. It was in the low 40's, cloudy and rainy.... I was secretly praying it would drop 10 degrees for snow, but alas, it stayed above freezing.

We also had a lovely candlelight church service that evening with songs, a message about the true meaning of Christmas and reminders to not get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life. The girls got to wear their Christmas dresses one last time and the bows I made for them. We had a lovely time together.

Josh and his friend, Brooklyn (she's a missionary with her parents in England now)

After church we drove around to look at all the lights around the neighborhoods. It was magic - just like when I was a kid :)

When we got home, a new tradition is letting the kids open their stocking stuffers. This year I had to wrap their stocking contents as Jayden kept pulling them down and we didn't want him to get hurt with the stocking holders. :( It's amazing what you can find at the Target $1 section!

Josh liked the activity book

Jenna liked the lip gloss

Julianna liked the stickers (they're everywhere in our house)

and Jayden liked traveling around with the remote

How was your Christmas Eve?

Christmas "Adam"

Lighthouse at the entrance to my parent's neighborhood on Lake Conroe

I heard a joke the otherday on facebook on the day before Christmas Eve that went like this: "Today is Christmas Adam, because Adam came before Eve".... so I thought I'd title my post about the day before Christmas Eve, "Christmas Adam"...

Lake Conroe....which is REALLY low from the drought

Every year we spend a day with my dad, his wife, my sister and nieces. This year we actually celebrated before Christmas! It was a lot of fun, and Jason actually got off work early to celebrate with us. I felt especially grateful as all the family is in CA still and holidays always make me miss them, but glad to at least have my dad here. :)

So what does one do at a typical family gathering here in Texas??

As with any family get together with my dad at his house, we have lots of food and lots of fun. It was raining so we couldn't play volleyball, but we had a great time together inside with all the kiddos. Here's some snapshots of our fun times together - the only one missing was my brother-in-law, CJ, who is currently finishing his training for the Coast Guard...

Jenna and her cousin, Lindi (2)

Julianna and her cousin, Caitlyn (3.5)

Jason & Jayden

The Christmas Tree

Reading the meaning of Christmas and learning what the greatest gift of all was

Jenna loves her princess lip gloss set

Jason helping Julianna open her gifts

Jayden got some board books!

The grandkids got a dress up bin and were enthrawled with all the princess costumes!

Josh liked the cowboy costume

Fairy Princess Jenna

Silly Joshie!

Can you even see in those, Julianna??

Another family tradition is we dress the kids up to renact the manger scene. Each year we've been fortunate and had a "Baby's 1st Christmas" to portray Jesus. This year we didn't! Jayden got to be Jesus again, although being a 13 month old Jesus, one doesn't want to lay down in the stable. He did try to open the wise men's gifts and pull on the head dresses though! I would normally have pictures, but my camera was full and I didn't get any this year! :( sadness....

Week 1 of Christmas Break {Picture Blog}

So what have we been up to during our first week of Christmas break? Well, here's some pictures to clue you in on our adventures during this first week off in preparation for Christmas and the New Year:

We have had LOTS of fun coloring and playing together....

We watched Josh's best friend for a day and overnight while his parents moved into their new house... They had a BLAST and it was Josh's first ever sleep over!

He got some "reindeer food" at his class party, so we had fun putting some out for some deer to come by....

In the morning, it was gone!

Our Christmas weekend was FULL of fun events with family and friends, but that's a whole new post :) Merry Christmas!

Little walker

Someone finally learned to walk over Christmas break.... but I have yet to get him on video. He's the 4th baby, but the oldest to learn how to walk. I've never had one walk AFTER turning a year old! It's so funny, but he's such a FAST crawler!

Guess walking is hard work...

Christmas Parties

Christmas is always a fun time of get togethers and rejoycing together the "Reason for the Season", but it seems as our kids have gotten older, we have more things during the Holidays!

Here was our schedule this month:

•  December 4th - Ornament Exchange @ Church with the ladies (Jenna went as my date and it was SO much fun!)
• December 9th - Legacy Christmas Party -- which is what I will blog about in a bit.....
• December 10th - Sunday School Party - which was at MY house! O-o
• December 11th - Jason's Work Party (SO FUN)
• December 12th - Legacy Staff Christmas Party (also a TON of fun!)
• December 14th - Class Christmas Party at school (and also a Geometry final for me to give and Joshie's class party all at the same time as my 6th graders' party)

Here's a few pictures from my outing with my little princess, Jenna;

 She was so excited to dress up like a "princess" and wear her special dress her grandma honey bought her for her birthday. She has SO much fun with me listenin to the music....

 Eating dinner and of course cupcakes....

 And we got a beautiful new ornament to hang on our Christmas tree!

Less than a week later we had Joshua's Christmas party for school. It was neat as he and his other pre-k/kindergarten classmates sang a few songs for everyone. Here's a few pictures from that event:

Josh and his buddy, Sage

Waiting for the performance to start

Josh and his awesome music teacher, Mrs. Cone

Sage, Josh and Ben getting ready to start

 And what performance would be complete without a special clip from the actual performance?? Below are two videos of them singing....As you will see, Josh is pretty enthusiastic about performing. LOL

And lastly, we ended the school year with class parties. Although I wasn't able to attend, I had lots of friends that were able to take some pictures for me. Here's a few class pictures from their PreK party:

And what a perfect gift he made at his party for our tree!

I am so thankful for the school we go to and teach at. It is such a blessing to us. These kids he is growing up with are sure to be life long buddies and special friends!