Merry Christmas!

This Christmas season has been especially fun for me. I always love this time of year...the colder weather, using the fireplace, listening to Christmas music exclusively, watching Christmas movies, getting decorations out that make me think of Christmases past, seeing the crowds at the mall, the lights all over the place, baking goodies, thinking of the perfect gift for someone I love...I could go on and on. I love the different music we sing at church and attending a Christmas Eve service.

I was excited to see what Canaan would notice this year, if she would get excited about anything, what she would think of the music and opening gifts.

Canaan loves balls so she was especially excited to see us hang ornaments on our tree. While hanging them, Matthew and I told her she could not touch them, they were to look at, and they were called ornaments, not balls. (Good thinking, right? If they're not balls, they aren't that exciting.) She did so great! I think she touched them only a handful of times. Most of the time she would look at them and say "mo, mo" (translation "no-no"). I think she enjoyed looking at the tree and seeing lights on the houses outside.

Grandma and Grandpa sent her a couple of books with recordings of them reading the books. Those are special. She didn't quite have the attention span for the entire books though. My mom also sewed a nativity scene for her to be able to play with. She mostly would carry the baby Jesus around.

We stayed home for Christmas. I did not miss the stress of air travel, but I definitely missed being with family.

Canaan did enjoy opening her gifts, but she hasn't played with them much yet. I think it may have been a little overwhelming. Thankfully I listened to Matthew and just got her some clothes for Christmas. We let everyone else get her something fun to play with. She got some really fun toys. My favorite gift by far was a quiet book my mom made. I cried once I opened it. It is really special. I look forward to Canaan spending some time with it.

All in all we had a nice couple of days at home. We have much to be thankful for. I think next Christmas is going to be something special to experience with our sweet girl.

And now to get to work on our Christmas cards...oops!

Christmas Fun

We had a really nice visit to my parent's house for Christmas. The weather was nice, the company was fun, the food was good (we got to eat at Rudy's - one of our favorite bbq joints in Texas), and it was quite relaxing. My brother and his sons (my sister-in-law was not feeling well and stayed home to rest) arrived Friday afternoon, and the games began. Matthew got Settlers of Catan for Christmas which we broke in nicely over the long weekend. We also got these baby rattles (our second baby gift to date).

Once we got home Sunday evening, Matthew went to pick up Max. He was exhausted! He layed around for the rest of the night and was still laying around when I went to work this morning. He seems to have regained at least some of his energy this evening, but Matthew said he slept all day. He got to open a couple of Christmas gifts last night (from Matthew's sister and my mom). And he got his first ornament. Isn't it cute?

The Bell

I received the following as an email and thought it was worth posting. I am not sure where it originated, but I like it.

THE BELL

I KNOW WHO I AM

I am God's child (John 1:12)

I am Christ's friend (John 15:15 )

I am united with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17)

I am bought with a price (1 Cor 6:19-20)

I am a saint (set apart for God). (Eph. 1:1)

I am a personal witness of Christ. (Acts 1:8)

I am the salt & light of the earth (Matt 5:13-14)

I am a member of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27)

I am free forever from condemnation ( Rom. 8: 1-2)

I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant (Phil 3:20)

I am free from any charge against me (Rom. 8:31 -34)

I am a minister of reconciliation for God (2 Cor 5:17-21)

I have access to God through the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18)

I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6)

I cannot be separated from the love of God (Rom 8:35-39)

I am established, anointed, sealed by God (2 Cor 1:21-22 )

I am assured all things work together for good (Rom. 8:28 )

I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16 )

I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3: 12 )

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13)

I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15: 1-5)

I am God's temple (1 Cor. 3: 16). I am complete in Christ (Col. 2: 10)

I am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). I have been justified (Romans 5:1)

I am God's co-worker (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1). I am God's workmanship (Eph. 2:10)

I am confident that the good works God has begun in me will be perfected. (Phil. 1: 5)

I have been redeemed and forgiven ( Col 1:14). I have been adopted as God's child (Eph 1:5)

I belong to God

Do you know

Who you are?

Christmas Photo 2008

Since we were dressed up for church this morning, I decided it was a good time to take an official Christmas photo for 2008. Last year, Matthew got me a tripod for my camera. I am embarrassed to say that I used it for the first time today. After using it today though, I believe I will get a lot of use out of it in the years to come.

The following picture was on our Christmas cards this year. Matthew couldn't believe I would send a photo Christmas card that didn't even have a picture of us on it. I didn't really think about that...oops! Maybe I should have taken pictures of us a couple of weeks ago. But isn't Max a handsome dog? And I'm pretty sure he was excited about meeting Santa.

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Survey

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? I like both but drink neither very often. If I drink egg nog, I generally dilute it by half with skim or low fat milk. It is a bit thick for my taste, but I do enjoy drinking it.
2. Funny Holiday memory as a child: One Christmas morning a blue banana seat bicycle was sitting next to our Christmas tree. I knew an older girl who had a bicycle just like that and asked my parents if she was at our house. Maybe I wasn’t awake enough to realize it was a Christmas present??
3. Colored or white lights on your house? I prefer white lights – although we have no lights on the outside of our house.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? No – I haven’t really thought about that before. That could be fun if it was placed strategically in the house so that I would only end up kissing Matthew.
5. When do you put your decorations up? In the past, I have put them up the weekend after Thanksgiving or close to it; however, this year we barely got them up in time for a Christmas party at our house last weekend.
6. Do you remember your favorite gift? I don’t remember a specific gift. There have been many!
7. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa only brought what was in our stockings when I was a kid.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I wish I could remember, but I don’t. It must not have been too traumatic – unless it was so bad that to this day I am repressing the memory.
9. Do you open gifts on Christmas Eve? Not generally. The first Christmas I spent with Matthew’s family in Chicago we opened one small gift on Christmas Eve. That was when Matthew proposed to me. My “small” gift was my engagement ring.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Generally, we use white lights, a lot of ornaments, and an angel on top. My mom always gets us a new ornament each year and has done so since I was a little kid. This year we were in such a hurry that we didn’t even put ornaments on the tree. Matthew wrapped a large ribbon around the tree which looks really pretty.
11. Snow? If I get to stay home inside then yes I enjoy snow on Christmas. I really don’t like to bother with snow when I’m traveling though.
12. Can you ice skate? I think I have been ice skating once. I am sure it wasn’t pretty. In my current condition, I should probably just say no to ice skating.
13. What is your favorite holiday dish? Does holiday candy count as a dish? I really enjoy eating pretty much anything that is served for the holiday. The older I get I really appreciate home-cooking...especially when I am not the one preparing the meal.
14. What's the most important thing about the Holiday for you? I enjoy spending time with my family and reflecting on the birth of Jesus.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Hmmm…that’s a hard one. I am a dessert affectionado, don’t you know? I will say a pumpkin roll is my favorite.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Right now, I guess my favorite tradition is making all kinds of candy goodies. I used to do this with my mom, and it is just something I want to do around the holidays. I would like to come up with other things for when we have kiddos in the house. One tradition I want to start is reading the Christmas story from the Bible on Christmas Eve. Do you have any traditions you would like to share with me?
17. What tops your tree? Right now an angel tops our tree.
18. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving? Can I say both? I like to give when I really know what a person would like to have. And I like to receive when someone has put so much thought into what he or she got me.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? There is no way I can answer this question. I LOVE Christmas music.
20. Candy Canes or Chocolate Covered Cherries? I like candy canes okay, but I would much rather have some other yummy treat list Rice Krispie treats, chocolate no-bake cookes, peanut butter fudge, tiger butter, etc.

I just noticed something about myself while filling out this little survey. I cannot leave an incomplete sentence in response to the prompt. That's weird!