Late night post about a few housekeeping things...

I keep thinking lately, "Oh, I should blog about that!" However, sadly, the pace of every day life has left me with very little energy or time to blog much lately. So, I thought I'd take a quick moment to take care of some loose ends.

First, I wrote not long ago about coming up with a different and more meaningful way for our family to celebrate Christmas this year. Here are a few small things that we have done:

1. We made care packages to keep in the car and give to homeless people that we encounter during the day. A small group that Christopher Robin and I participate in through church came up with t his idea and we all brought items to contribute to the care package and them put them together one night. Some of the items we put in the bags were: Tooth brushes, small packages of tissue, wet wipes, new socks, tuna and cracker kits, water bottles, chapstick, packages of applesauce, and bible tracts.

2. Getting together with friends to make really amazing homemade caramel apples. Thanks Dee! This was a fun, creative, way to bless our neighbors, friends and family.

3. I have been talking to the girls about this time of year being about celebrating Jesus' birth. It also just so happens that Winnie's birthday is January 3rd. So birthday's are a big topic of conversation around the house right now. We sing "Happy Birthday" to everyone in the family every night, and now we sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus too. Something kind of cool has happened as a result. The lense through which my girls view the world around Christmastime has changed. They now see things through the lense of, "This is Jesus' birthday" instead of, "This is about Santa bringing me presents". The other night as we were driving home, Winnie and Ava noticed all of the lights on our neighbors houses. In the midst of Oooo's and Aaaahhh's, I heard one of them say, "It's Jesus' Birthday!" I said, "That's right. Everyone puts lights on their houses and decorates to celebrate Jesus' birthday just like we put candle's on a cake when we celebrate your birthday." To this I received a chorus of, "Oh cool! Happy Birthday Jesus!" Now that was a totally amazing parenting moment. Thank you God!

4. Finally, we are planning to go to the snow on Christmas day instead of sitting around the house opening presents all day. It'll be the first time we've done this with all three girls and we are all looking forward to it. The idea is to make the day less about the presents we receive and more about spending time together as a family and being thankful for the best present we could ever have. The one God gave us when He sent His one and only son Jesus Christ to be born and to die for our sins so that we could be saved and have eternal life. That's the best gift ever. One we didn't deserve, but one that He knew we needed more than anything else.

Thank you God for your most amazing gift!

Love,

Kim