Things I Want to Remember About Christmas 2012

I get so stressed out when I have a bunch of photos to upload, feeling the pressure to blog and post, etc. So, for now, a few things I want to remember about this Christmas, in words alone:

-Singing carols at the Christmas Eve service, Eli standing on a chair between Eric and me, each of us with an arm around him, and hearing his little voice sing out so clearly, "O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!" with his face softly lit in the darkened auditorium. Eric and I locked eyes over the top of Eli's head, and the feeling we shared was huge and the same- "Lord, let his heart truly adore you, all of his days." I'll never forget it.

-Eli making one of his famous "crafts" and wrapping it up for me, only to run and get it out of his hiding place in the closet minutes later, exclaiming, "I just can't wait to give it to you!" :)

-Giving Eric a present he would never buy for himself but has wanted forever.

-Standing at the glass door of our back porch watching SNOW fall on the cozy Christmas afternoon.

-Eli's flashlight shining in my eyes at 2:30am on Christmas morning, his little voice whispering, "I saw a present! I think Santa came!" :)

-Eric's incredibly thoughtful gifts to me, speaking right to my heart that I am known and treasured by him. I couldn't be more grateful.

-Reading my absolute favorite passage in the entire Bible (Luke 2) in the quiet, early-morning stillness of Christmas morning, rejoicing alone in the silence of my little house at the thought of the "heavenly host" filling the sky with light and song and praise over our Savior's birth. Our God, who slipped into the world so quietly and humbly as a little baby, will never be silent again.

And now we look forward to a new year and a "clean slate," which I love. Merry Christmas and happy New Year!

Lucy

A kitten has been Eli's only Christmas request for months now, and we just couldn't resist. We got her on Tuesday afternoon, and we didn't think it was possible to keep her hidden until Christmas morning! So Eli got an early Christmas present!

We had him sit on the couch with his eyes covered, and then asked him to open his eyes as we placed the kitten in his lap. His face was priceless! He asked, "Is her real?" and then "Is her mine?" :) He named her Lucy.

So far so good with little Lucy! She's super friendly, gentle, and playful. Eli is in love, and we are just so happy watching him with her. This is how I found them this afternoon...

What a great Christmas gift for our little family! Long live Lucy the cat! :)

Christmas Things

I haven't posted in quite a while! Here are a few things that we've been up to this holiday season...

1. As per tradition, we went to the Christmas tree farm the weekend after Thanksgiving to cut down our tree. We had a blast!

2. Eli and went with our friends Elizabeth and C.J. to see the trains at Northpark and to visit Santa! We did this together last year too, and we'll continue to do it until our boys are old enough to know better! :) The Santa picture is blurry and the picture of the boys is the best we could get of them, but you get the idea! :)

3. This weekend at church the kids put on the most adorable Christmas musical ever! The 3-4 year olds were the angel chorus, and they totally stole the show. :) What's more adorable than 15 4 year olds in angel wings? :) It was so meaningful for all of us watching, and I'm sure it was just a fragrant aroma of praise to the Lord, who sent Jesus Christ as a baby to be our Savior. This is a message for all mankind, from the youngest to the oldest, and these precious kids sang that out with all their hearts!

We're looking forward to more Christmas memories this week, and we pray that our hearts will be focused completely on the most precious gift of Jesus Christ, Emmanuel.