This has been such a special Christmas to me in that my eldest is actually old enough to enjoy some of the unique blessings of Christmastime.  This month we’ve had so much fun watching him take in all the new and old family traditions.

Every year my friend Corrine hosts a Christmas cookie party.  This year I had to make 90 cookies for the party.  For good measure I made an extra few batches to distribute to family as gifts.  Our big boy helped decorate the cookies by adding sprinkles.  At the party Corrine was very kind to let Peanut take home one of the stuffed animals she had used to decorate her home, a Build-A-Bear workshop Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer with a light up nose and authentic jingle bell neck harness.  He adores his new stuffed toy. Thanks Corrine!

My husband likes a natural tree so we visited a tree farm and picked out a white fur as our Christmas tree.  We enjoyed hot cocoa on the porch at the tree farm and Peanut met a new friend, a three year old little boy named Colten.  The funnest part was tying the tree to the roof of the van and carrying the tree into the house.

We decorated the tree and I allowed Peanut to help hang a few ornaments. He is very proud of his ornament-hanging accomplishments.

We purchased some of the Christmas classics at Walmart and have enjoyed watching the movies as a family.  These include “Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and a Veggie Tales Movie, “The Star of Christmas.”  We plan to watch “Here Comes Santa Claus” before Christmas Day.

A local church created an awesome drive-through Christmas light spectacular complete with an outdoor ice-skating scene, dancing gingerbread men, a lighted tunnel, Santa and Mrs. Claus, Santa’s workshop, three Wisemen, a no-room at the inn scene, and a manger scene with star, Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus.   Every scene was decked out in Christmas lights and the drive was enhanced by radio with music to go-along with the display.   To make it even more fun, the church workers put a magnet on the side of the van with our boy’s names on it so that as we passed the living scenes, they would shout out to our boys and wish them a Merry Christmas by name.  We were so impressed by the lights and hospitality we plan to make it an annual family event.

We created and decorated a gingerbread house together and Peanut had a blast getting his hands covered in white icing as he imbeded candy into the roof of the gingerbread house.  It wasn’t perfect but it was so much fun putting together.  My dad video taped the activity and I know I will treasure it for years to come.

A fancy hotel in town always puts on amazing Christmas lights and features a town made of gingerbread in it’s lobby.  When we arrived at the hotel an entertainer was singing Christmas carols so we joined right in.  The smallest carolers were jumping along to the music on top of a circular tufted ottomon so Peanut climbed right up and joined in the festive jumping.  I wish I could carry the joy on his face with me and give it away to those who need more joy this Christmas.  It was contagious.

We’ve been reading parts of the Christmas story in our bible time each morning and this week we’ll be on the letter “K” – perfect for studying about the three kings who brought baby Jesus (we just finished “j”) gold, incense, and myrrh.

This weekend we decorated the front yard with Christmas lights and our two-and-a-half year-old loves going outside with Daddy to look at the lights.

Last night the boys grandmother, Nana, stayed the night, and together with my dad, myself, Jimmy and the boys we enjoyed a warm fire in the fireplace and some great family time together.  Peanut spent the eveing either playing hide and seek with Nana or playing on the keyboard with Pop Pop.  I was able to lounge on the floor with Nugget while he crawled around and got to do a little ticking.  Nugget can pull himself to standing position now so walking isn’t far away.

And even more pictures below of our family fun at Christmas.  We miss our family far away and we grieve the family no longer with us.  But we rejoice in the gifts God has given us – the gift of His son Jesus and the gifts of these two precious boys.   We pray you are having a blessed Christmas.

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),” Luke 1:68-70 NIV

In His Grip,

Monica

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