Sweet P's 1st Christmas Highlights

Just a few photos from my lil Sweet P's first Christmas.

Our Lil Man LOVED the contrast of the colors.

Our lil reindeer greeting the morning

Having a Ball
We got Lil P this ball and he LOVES it!

Phalen's New Ride - an old school Walker!

He loves to stand and try to take steps, so we thought this would be better than a bouncer. 

Phalen got Daddy a pair of socks and a new tie! :)
(I figured he should get started right away with these stereotypical gifts!)

We also gave Phalen the book "The Story of Christmas" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" movie.  We read him the book as soon as we were done opening gifts.  It tells the story of Jesus' birth and ends with "Happy Birthday Jesus".

After dinner (which was BBQ steak and shrimp - steak for the Hubs), we settled in to watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas".  (does anybody remember the name of the little red-haired girl in the yellow checked dress? we can't remember and couldn't find it online when we looked it up).  It was such a great way to end a beautiful day!

How was your day spent?

You're Invited!

Image Credit

Getting ready for church tonight, I greatly lacked a desire to go.  I know this sounds terrible, but I REALLY wanted to skip and have a relaxing Christmas Eve dinner at my in-law's then head home for a quiet night and to bed on time.

I am constantly praying that God will change my attitude real quick when I have negative thoughts.  Well, He certainly did that tonight!  Shortly after feeling a desire to skip, the thought occurred me

This isn't just another church service

This is a celebration of Jesus' Birth

This is Jesus' Birthday Celebration!

Jesus is my King!

Do you know what that means?!  

I was invited to attend the Birthday of a KING!

How could I not want to go?!  How could I not want to get dressed up?!  After all, I would be attending a King's birthday party!!!  

So quickly my attitude did change; I was actually excited to go.  And my selfish ideas were no longer what I had in mind; I couldn't wait to go to church!  I even wanted to bake a cake and write "Happy Birthday Jesus" on it (darn, I wish I'd had more time - perhaps a new tradition to start next year!)  

Needless to say, I made sure we left with plenty of time (accounting for possible traffic delays and/or snowfall); we arrived 45 minutes early, so we went for coffee/tea while we waited :)  HA- How is that for an attitude adjustment?! 

I am thankful for the Spirit's prick in my perspectives.  I pray that I will always be open to a change of perspective when I fail to see the magnitude of Who I turn to everyday, Who I serve, Who I seek, Who I long to spend time with: THE KING - Jesus Christ, my Savior.  

Here is your invitation to The King's birthday party!

From my family to yours-

Merry Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

...CHRISTMAS in my house.

I gotta confess, we always have intentions to get our Christmas decor up the weekend after Thanksgiving, and then we FAIL!   This year was no different. 

We finally got the tree up last weekend. 

I did a few more touches during the week between my little Sweet P's naps (which are two at 30 minutes each - he doesn't seem to like to sleep much). I eventually gave up and decided we would have it very simple this year.

And the best part of this, THREE stockings :)  All of us have the same style stockings (as do Hub's sisters, bro-in-law, and nephew).  A personalized stocking is the gift from my Ma-In-Law when you enter the family.

Our dining area is ready for guests.  Just in time too.  We hosted a dinner guest on the 20th.  And what better day; if the Mayans were right (bahahaha), best to spend the evening breaking bread in fellowship with a dear friend.

A new ornament for our tree:  A depiction of our biggest gift this year.

An ornament given to Phalen from MeMe (g-ma) on the day of his dedication: December 2nd, 2012
Also a wonderful reminder for everyday (I will probably hang this in his room after Christmas).

And some Christmas fun MeMe and I were having while decorating her house.

 All the presents are wrapped, stockings are stuffed, and we're ready (just in time).

Christmas Eve (tomorrow night), we will be going here (church), to enjoy what is sure to be another great sermon.   Afterwards, we will have a small dinner celebration and gift exchange with my In-Laws  (and I'm almost certain there will be a game of Farkle).  This has become our Christmas Eve tradition :) It feels great to have traditions, but even better that Sweet P has grandparents here to spend the holidays with.  

What do you do for Christmas Eve?

Good Tidings of Comfort and Joy

Christmas this year was full of comfort and much joy!

Our simple tree that was only adorned in a few bulbs, 

a gold angel-top and the white lights

After a few weeks of really having a "Perspective Check", I was quite relieved to have a small, intimate celebration this year with family.   

On Christmas Eve, my pa-n-ma in law came over for dinner and a little gift exchange.   

I made a Macadamia Crusted Halibut (that I caught) with a Citrus-Shallot Sauce as the main course - mmmm.   We played games and just laughed while listening to Christmas music.

 

Our cozy little fire going - I LOVE the smell of wood burning

My ma-in-law giving Miss Marianne her gift

I gave her an apron and cleaning gloves for the new kitchen they are building

She was OVER the Moon for them!!

Playing Apples to Apples  

Fun!

Christmas Day,  the Hubs and I had a very quiet day.  We stayed home and listened to sermons on a podcast (from the Village Church in Dallas TX).  I completed some knitting projects and spoke with my siblings over the phone.  We exchanged our personal gifts to each other (and of course, stockings!)

For dinner, it was the two of us and Oh so Wonderful!   The Hubs BBQ'd shrimp and steak - which we decided will be a tradition for us :-)  yay - we're starting to get some!!!

Yup, this is how we do it!

I made a hearty salad, baked onions and some roasted yukon gold potatoes.  We had a nice little feast to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Table set and ready for My Man 

When I think of the word Christmas, I always think of it in reverse: Mas Christus, or More Christ.  We praise Jesus for His presence in our lives and rejoice in His present to us.    

"And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, 

and the glory of the Lord shone around them, 

and they were greatly afraid. 

Then the angel said to them, 

'Do not be afraid, for behold, 

I bring you good tidings of great joy 

which will be to all people. 

For there is born to you this day 

in the city of David a Savior, 

who is Christ the Lord.'"

Luke 2:9-11 (NKJV)

We pray you have received good tidings of great joy this day that we celebrate the birth of our Savior and all the year through!!  

Tree Traditions

YAY - we finally got a tree up!  

This year, we decided to change our usual decor.  For the past six years, we've had colored lights with purple & red as the accent colors.   Unlike many that we know, we don't really have any 'milestone' ornaments or decorations, so we're not really attached and decided we needed a change!

This year, we wanted something brighter.  So, we got clear lights with green, clear iridescent and champagne colored ornaments.  It is much more simple than we've had in the past, but it's beautiful!!

And I LOVE it!

We haven't added all our other Christmas decorations yet (i.e. Nativity Set, Christmas Village, Wreaths, etc), so I may be working on that the rest of the week... Although, if we don't get around to it, at least my tree is up :-)

Growing up, getting our tree and decorating it was a highlight of Christmas for me.  My mom liked to go find and cut our tree on her birthday weekend.  We would make a whole day of sledding and drinking homemade hot cocoa.

The day after we cut the tree, all of us siblings would gather and decorate the tree.  It was, no doubt, covered in homemade ornaments that all of us would bring home from school (and my mom's tree still is).   We'd race to mom (who would prep the ornaments for hanging) to get the ones we made and fight to hang it in our favorite location on the tree.

And tinsel!  We loved adding the tinsel - and I was the crazy one who would fix everyone else's tinsel clumps later on. (I think my sister did too, but she never let me catch her if she did)

I wonder what traditions we'll create with our children one day.

Today, I started a new tradition for our family.  I learned last week that the second Sunday of December is a day of remembrance to those grieving the loss of a child.  At 7pm (in your local time zone), candles are lit for one hour to remember the children that have passed away and their parents and family that are grieving.   This was started 15 years ago by The Compassionate Friends.

We lit two candles. One for our son, William Ryan, and one for my friend's daughter, Faith Ann.  Both were born sleeping.

I am glad to have at least one tradition to add to our December days in the future years to come.  Perhaps we'll start another new one in the next couple weeks.

Oh, and here's one that I won't forget!

What are some traditions you have, or remember from your childhood?  Would love to hear about some!