And so this is Christmas...

And what have we been doing?! OH, LOVING IT!

I have always L.O.V.E.D the Christmas "season" - I love that it is an "extended" holiday - not just wrapped up in to one day or a weekend. But really and truly my love for this season seems to grow yearly PRIMARILY because of God's AWESOME grace to reveal more about the blessedness of the incarnation of Christ and the joy that is provided us through the revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ.

I think my kids have helped me with this, too, because wanting them to understand what it is really about and truly value the reality of it all has helped me to grow and enjoy it more as well.
I think the season provides so many easy teachable moments for our kids, too; and I like easy.

Also, for us, there are so many fun events surrounding the season - shopping and cookie swapping, parties and wrapping...

Crafting and baking... (lots of crafting and baking - which also means making messes and eating)

Laughing and reading (speaking of reading, check out this link of some great Christmas books - here), as well as some of our own favorite - The Very First Christmas by Paul Majer and Silent Night (this has music and lights and mommy has to sing E.V.E.R.Y. page) by Smart Kids Publishing, and Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus by Nancy Guthrie.

And we even got a nice getaway without the kids...


...we had lots of fun with friends, got to see Handles Messiah with the National Symphony Orchestra, and I even got to take a nice, hot, uninterrupted bath. My husband is always super sweet to me and gets us a room with a huge tub whenever we get to go away alone...love, love, love. Then in the morning I got the pleasure of downtown Georgetown shopping where there was even a 3 story Anthropology which I think is just another evidence of God's great grace! :)

I would be remiss to add that someone in the house, if not all of us, has been sick since September in some way or another, but that has only put a slight damper on the season. And, it is cold. That is the only thing about winter that I don't love (but sweaters, jackets, hot drinks, blankets, soft lights...I do...so I suppose the cold can stay).

We are also so thankful for all the great resources we have during this season! So many of our friends have shared so many great Christmas traditions and we have been introduced to so many great resources to push us to treasure Christ more! We have decided to add the tradition of driving around to see all the Christmas lights in our pajamas, but everything else is pretty much the same this year...with the exception that we have a whole new member of our family - and boy is he cute!
We've been too wrapped up in it all to post much (which explains why this must be the longest post ever), but we hope you and yours are having a terrific season as well and enjoy Immanuel, God with us!