So we decided to go with a family photo shoot this year for Christmas pictures versus a trip to the portrait studio. Let me state that the last visit to get family pictures taken at this studio resulted in a 2 hour wait because they were running behind.  And the pictures were horrible. Much complaining goes on that there are too many children, (this done by the employee’s). There is NO creativity in the shots, and then the ones taken make me cringe that I even paid for this. Oh-and last time, after viewing the photos to choose for the order, I asked where one paticular photo was. To which was replied~”My(being the photographer) hand was in it. Maybe next time you will get a better photographer”  WHAT??? I am paying you because you are suppose to be good!!

So when it came time to discuss what to do for the Christmas pic, we decided to call up a friend and see what he could do.  Results~ Amazing photography and a really fun afternoon of running around just being us. Eric and I both agree that these pics of us are better than what we got from our wedding.  Maybe that’s because we are so much more comfortable with each other now than we were on our wedding day.

The days seem to be flying by. Each year we work to focus on why we even celebrate Christmas. It seems so easy, I think especially with little children, to get caught up in the activities of what the world calls Christmas but forget why we choose to celebrate this special time. We have chosen carefully which holidays we celebrate as a family and feel that are children need to understand why. So why do we choose Christmas?

If you were to ask my 2 year old, she would simply reply “Jesus”. This very simple explanation has made me stop and think, what would I say?  It would be much longer and probly sound more sophisticated and educated. But really, is there any need for anything else? My little children often awe me in their clarity of understanding such things. Jesus. This is why we celebrate Christmas. We are so excited to spend a whole month in celebration of the birth of our Savior. It hardly seems enough.

We have this HUGE pecan tree in our front yard that produces hundreds of pounds of pecans each winter. When we first moved here, I was very selfish of this tree.  Afterall, it was my pecan tree and my pecans. One day as I looked out my window, I saw some people walking all over my yard picking up pecans. I was upset. They were stealing MY pecans. (Even though I hardly even picked many of them up.) I then began checking more frequently throughout each day to check on my tree. And sure enough, more often than not someone would be out picking pecans up from my yard. I battled in my head over this. What should I do? Should I ask them to leave? Should I just ignore them?

 One night while putting the children to bed they asked to listen to the pineapple story.  This is a story about a missionary and his struggles with possessions. Long story short, as I sat at my sewing machine sewing away and listening to this story, it dawned on me that this wasn’t my tree at all. It belonged to God and I was merely to take care of it and glorify Him while doing it. I began to think what I would do the next time someone stopped to pick pecans. The answer seemed pretty simple, give them a bag to collect God’s pecans in and smile and mumble in what little Spanish I know to take all they needed.

I don’t always realize how much my children watch me and my actions. But it was not long and one of the boys came running inside “Mom, can I get a bag to give the man picking pecans in the front yard?” “Yes”, I smiled. So today as I was watching a family collect pecans (they come about once a week) I thought about what giving is really about. What does it really mean to give? Why do we give? One simple word- Jesus. God in His unconditional love for us gave to us Jesus. A little baby, born in a stable to a young mother surrounded by animals. I love to think about that night. Mary, exhausted after traveling and then giving birth, holding her precious new baby. A gift from God for the whole world. Every man woman and child. So I want to teach my children to give unconditionally with a loving heart. I want them to understand the gift that has been given to them..Jesus. And that with this gift they in turn have so much to give to others.

So this Christmas, we are talking alot about giving. We decided to have the children draw names for one sibling that they would buy a gift for. They can make as many gifts as they can find resources (and they are VERY resourceful), but only one is bought. I have delighted in their creativity and joy in making each other gifts. Our tree is already filled with gifts and we have yet to make a trip to go Christmas shopping! So as the days go by and even after Christmas has come and gone, let us never forget about Jesus. The perfect gift!!!

We were up and dressed early this morning.  Eric’s school was having a Christmas Party Breakfast. I didn’t go last year, but Eric took the children and they had a wonderful time and were very much anticipating this year.  So we were out the door by 7:00. Whew ~ that’s earlier than Sunday’s for church! The breakfast was lovely and we all enjoyed ourselves. Afterwards we headed over to the childrens hospital to see all the Christmas decorations. There was a Nativity Set that was life size. And a Gingerbread Village of about 100 houses.  These were made by the sick children here at the hospital. What a blessing to these little children to have the Culinary School come and help them make such beautiful works of art. After ohhhing and ahhhing over the village we headed home. On the way we saw a security officer and his car. Michael asked if he was a police officer. I replied, ” No, he is here to make sure that everybody is safe and helps when you need him” Joshua then asked if he could write tickets. I replied “No- he can’t” And Joshua said ” why Mommy- does he need a pencil?”