Every year it keeps getting better. Every year they understand a little bit more about WHY Christmas is so special. That without Christmas, our faith is meaningless. Without God coming to earth as a human baby…the rest of it couldn’t happen. If He had never been born, He could never have lived a sinless life here on earth. He couldn’t have taken on the SINS OF THE WORLD and been crucified and buried. And then, most importantly, if He had never been born, He could never have been raised out of that grave, thereby saving ALL of us sinners who come to Him, begging for grace and in desperate need of a Savior. Christmas gets more real to them (and to their parents) each year. So thankful for this time to celebrate my Lord coming to earth in the most humbling, lowly way. Each passing Christmas draws us closer to the day when HE WILL RETURN. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
I LOVE all of the traditions that come along with Christmas. Honestly, I think Christmas Eve is even better than Christmas Day for me. Maybe that’s why I took so many pictures on Christmas Eve and next to none on Christmas Day. Christmas starts for us on the Sunday before Christmas. That’s when we celebrate with my family. Always a fun and wild time. The volume level in that house on that day keeps getting louder and louder each year. My mom loves on us BIG TIME through her love language of gift giving. It’s such a fun day! The camera wasn’t out for very long on Sunday, but there are a few photos…
It was fun that this year Christmas fell on a Tuesday. That meant that we had Christmas with my parents, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day right there in a row. Three REALLY great days. Clara Beth and I look forward to baking a Birthday coffeecake for Jesus every Christmas Eve. This year she was torn between baking with me and playing legos with Mak, but I did get a good 20 minutes of bake time in with my baby girl. Love, Love, Love.
While the girls were inside baking, the boys were outside installing seat belts in Buck the Truck. Working on Buck is their new favorite hobby. Mak’s still very confident that this truck will be his when he’s 16.
A little art project for Miss CB…
A canvas that will come out every Christmas from now until forever. I love that she signed it just like her Daddy signs his portraits.
The Jesse Tree is my favorite thing that we do this time of year. We always lag a few days behind, but I love that it’s consistent and something we can look forward to every day in the month of December. It’s my least favorite thing to take down when Christmas is over.
As we do every year, we went to Mom and Dad’s for Christmas Eve supper before the candlelight service at church. I even talked Mak into enduring a family photo! A Christmas miracle!
Candlelight service, then home to track Santa on Norad. They don’t believe in Santa anymore, but they still love playing along. And I love that.
Ha…=)
Goofs. I love ’em so much it hurts.
Jesse Tree devotion…
And then it was time to put out the reindeer food and cookies for Santa!
The kids went to bed and then I began my favorite date night of the year. I have SO Much fun with Collin Smith on Christmas Eve! Nothing like getting the stuff ready to surprise our little sugars! The next morning we heard Mak shuffling around at 6:00. He asked permission to wake his sister shortly after that, and then we were all downstairs. It was a great day, but like I said earlier, I didn’t take many pictures.
And there you have it! Christmas 2012. A Wonderful day and one that I want to remember forever. Hope yours was incredible, too!
