The sights of Christmas

Christmas is upon us.  It's fun to see the joy in our boys every time they see Christmas lights, a lit up tree, or other festive decorations.  As we learn to create memories and traditions for our young family, we're trying to keep things simple, focus on people, and be intentional about having the focus on Jesus.  Isn't that what Christmas is...the celebration of Jesus coming to Earth?  It's a great story of the Savior bringing redemption into the world!  We don't do Santa or some other typical celebrations.  I'm no grinch, though, and plenty of fun is to be had by all!

Small boys watch in awe as their daddy puts lights on the tree.

25 Books of December.  Not my idea but saw this recently. Something fun to "unwrap" every day in December.  We don't do a ton of presents so it's fun to get to open a surprise every day.  And we love books at our house. We used old color comics that I had saved when we used to buy the Sunday paper and chose mostly books we already had with a couple of new ones from a discount book store in town.  Bonus:  Mateo gets to practice reading numbers every day.

Ready to open Day 1's book

My favorite tradition of setting up the nativity scene and telling the bible stories surrounding Jesus' birth.

Stockings this year include a mini stocking for the future baby sister.  I'm eager.

Joy, mischievousness, and love all mixed together

Felt nativity set passed down to us a couple years ago.  They LOVE it!!  Alex may put the sheep up in trees sometimes and feed them stars, but hey- he's only 2.  Mateo is much more precise :)

One of our favorite Nativity stories

Fridge Advent Calendar with a scripture to read or a task to do every day on the back

Christmas tree math

Chocolatey Advent calendars from Grandma.  Good practice for Mateo with reading his numbers and fun treats.

My favorite nativity candle that lights up our dinner table. 

Cozy corner

I read an article recently that posed this question:  If this was your last Christmas...would you celebrate it any differently?  It's not something anyone likes to think about but countless tragedies occur and you really never know. Is it possible to savor each day we have with friends and family?  To live life sacrificially because of Christ? One of my favorite things about the season is writing Christmas cards.  Getting a chance to write a personal note in an old fashioned snail mail card and praying for people who I may not see often- love it!!  We also get excited to choose a couple of things for our "Christmas Blessing Projects" so we call it.  Some way for us to intentionally spend less on our stuff so we can give a little bit away! I enjoy that the Advent season is fun family time reflecting on what it meant for Jesus to come and bring redemption to His people.  It's really not about over the top presents, Santa, or having the fanciest Christmas lights.  It's about internalizing the fact that Jesus was born to die for us! And we should strive to live each day grateful and in awe of that.  If you are a Jesus follower, you can be assured that when your time on Earth is over that you will be able to spend eternity with the Savior.  We don't turn into mystical creatures or angels, but we will get to be worshiping our Savior for all eternity.  Now that's something to celebrate.  What a God of grace, love, and peace.  Don't miss out on it.

"He has sent redemption to His people;
He has commanded His covenant forever:
Holy and awesome is His name."
Psalm 111:9 NKJV