Check out my new blog!

So, since I use this blog mostly for my own thoughts and ramblings I decided to start a blog updating others on what our family is up to. Check it out... http://lifewiththelittlers.blogspot.com/

Go Broncos!

I am making brownies getting ready to watch the Broncos on Monday Night Football!

I LOVE Christmas

So, I have a confession... I LOVE Christmas! I mean, I LOVE it! I love the decorations, food, candlelight services, Christmas music... I LOVE it! I even bought this C.D. this week and can't stop listening to it and we haven't even hit Thanksgiving yet. But, I don't care because I LOVE Christmas. I get so wrapped up in the amazingness that is Christmas. Jesus Christ came to earth to live among us... Except I have a confession to make. I also hate Christmas. I can't believe I let those words slip out of my mouth... or my fingers. Christmas (especially since becoming an adult) can be SO stressful. There is so much shopping to do and the expectations are so high to attend every Christmas celebration your friends and family throw... even if it is to celebrate with people you haven't seen since last Christmas and that you would never hear from if Christmas didn't exist! I hate the hustle and bustle of it.

Whenever I imagine sharing the wonder of Christmas with my family I don't imagine running through a crowded mall, I don't imagine hours in line at the post office, I don't imagine taking them to gathering after gathering of people they don't even know who spend the whole time yelling at each other or talking badly about the family members who aren't there. Because, honestly, I don't want them to know that that is what Christmas has become. I don't want them to know that the birth of our Savior has become about people and what they want. I guess, part of me wants to shield them.

I want them to think that Christmas is about Jesus. That Christmas is about worship and rejoicing in a birth that saved our lives! I want them to think that Christmas is about giving. Not just giving to our friends and families who have everything they need, but about giving to people who are really in need. I want them so see the beauty of being blessed on Christmas morning. I want them to see that Christmas is a time of quiet reflection. I want them to have time to enjoy Chrismas.

I know that I will be dissapointing people this Christmas. And as a perpetual people pleaser I hate this. But, my job is not to make people happy. My job is to raise children that know and love the Lord. In the end nothing else matters. And I believe that making Christmas special and meaningful is a good start to that. And honestly, I want to experience the wonder of Christmas again!

So, this Christmas we are listening to lots of Christmas music about Jesus. (Max has already told me he LOVES to sing Christmas music about Jesus), we will be celebrating Advent, we will be giving and doing it with our children, and we will be spending time together, talking and learning. And we WILL be doing the fun stuff! We will be decorating, buying gifts, wrapping gifts, making food, going to parties. Just not on the same level. We will not let the optional fun things take over the important things.

And I can't tell you how excited I am for Christmas this year!!

Isaiah 9:6 "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace"