A Very Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, cozy at home, with my parents and Nik and Andrea.

We spent Christmas Eve with Jarom, Charla and Evan. We've come to call our get together around Christmas "Sploozebells". We do a game exchange, open Jammies, and hang out for the day. The weather was awesome so the kids were able to play outside and ride bikes, the jeeps, play Frisbee...

It was a great time.

We decided this year to participate in The Advent Conspiracy. To participate, they challenge you, as a family, to take the money you would have spent on Christmas presents and instead donate the funds towards The Advent Conspiracy. So, we decided it would be wonderful this year to give the children only 1 gift (for Cole and Brynn we lacked a "larger" 1 gift so we gave them 3 small gifts in the same category to make their 1 gift). It made Christmas so great.

I spent little to no time shopping since I had it delivered from Amazon and we were able to spend more time together as a family, less concerned about spoiling each other or what we "want" and more concerned with the meaning of Christmas.

We spent the majority of the month, whenever possible, teaching the kids about Jesus being the center of why we celebrate Christmas. I've blogged about traditions and the meaning of Christmas each year, this year we just freed up the time spent on shopping and presents to focus even more on Christ.

We had a brief moment on Christmas morning where we saw the children consumed with presents. Justin expressed frustration. I considered the moment and decided it was okay in that moment for the kids to be excited and concerned about their presents. They had spent the whole month learning about Christ and Jesus birth. They knew they had sacrificed for the sake of others. So, in that moment it was good they were able to appreciate and LOVE Christmas morning.

There wasn't one word concerning more presents. Of course they were blessed to have neighbors, grandparents and aunts and uncles that love them and gave them Christmas presents.

We had a wonderful day, and a true reminder of how blessed we are in Jesus birth and his willingness to come and live, serve and die for us.

What a Mighty God we serve.

Merry Christmas to everyone...we wish we could be with ALL our family and friends during the holidays. We pray each of you is happy, healthy and safe. God Bless you.