Preparing Our Hearts

Preparing our hearts to celebrate our Savior's birth.  Isn't that what it is all about?  I love Christmas time and all that goes with the holiday.  I am so very thankful that Jesus came.  Emmanuel.  God with us.  Without Him we would be so lost.

  I found the nativity set just like this last night.  Such a great reminder to focus on what this season is truly about.  The greatest gift that our loving Heavenly Father gave to us, Jesus.

 

I had the kids draw their favorite part of the Christmas Story as one of our advent calendar activities. 

Hayley said this about her picture, " Mom there are only two wise men here because one of them went on vacation."  Such a silly girl.

 

We made cookies to take to some friends who had us over for dinner while Chris was away.  We may have snuck a few just to make sure they tasted ok before we gave them to the Welchs.  Quality control.

This is the second year for our Jesse Tree.  My favorite part of Christmas by far.  Each night we read our devotion and scripture tracing the lineage of Jesus and look at how God had it all planned out from the beginning.  How He loves us.  How He came to save us.

 



 

Getting ready to decorate the tree

 

 

The finished product

 

Our nativity

 

I love sitting by the tree with a cup of coffee, a dark room, tree lights on and just looking over the ornaments.  Each one has a story as to where is came from or who gave it to us. 

 Each year, I buy the children a new ornament that has something to do with their interest or likes over the past year.  I will pass them on to them when they are grown and have their own families so they can share the stories behind their ornaments and pass the tradition down to their children. 

Here are some of my favorites...

 

Hannah's first Christmas

 

USMC ornament that my mom bought for us at Mike's Farm in NC

 

Hayley's first Christmas

 

Luke's first Christmas

 

Our UGA ornament!  Go DAWGS!

 

No fireplace in SoCal (although it has been in the 30's the past 3 nights) so we improvise with where to place the stockings.  I think it turned out cute!

 

 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.