Highlights from the day :)

My sweet daddy had to work today so...we made our own fun around the house today and we're pretending Christmas is tommorow! Since he couldn't be here with us, I took pictures of our day so he wouldn't miss anything! :) And well, I know all of you really just couldn't make it without seeing every detail either haha ;) So here, in all my weirdness, is our Christmas day.

Starting the day with chocolate chip pancakes :)

While listening to the afore-mentioned Andrew Peterson and pondering the wonder of this day...

We opened one present- new sleds! And plenty of snow to use them with!

And...ridiculous pictures at the theater where we saw the fabulous Chronicles of Narnia movie!

Not forgetting the reason for this day...

"For unto us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government shall be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:5-6

Praise our God for this incredible gift of love!

Merry Christmas!

Behold

This Christmas CD is by far the most powerful, worshipful album I have ever heard. Andrew Peterson wrote all the songs himself, as you listen to him tell the "old, old story of the power of death undone by an infant born of glory." POWERFUL lyrics. I went the concert last year and cried all the way through it was just so beautiful.

Thought I'd share one of my favorites with you: Go down to the right and pause the music player!!


Lyrics:
Gather round, ye children come
Listen to the old, old story
Of the power of death undone
By an infant born of glory,
Son of God, Son of Man

Gather round remember now
How creation held its breath
How it let out a sigh and filled
Up the sky with the angels
Son of God, son of man

So sing out with joy for the brave little boy
Who was God and He made himself nothing
Well he gave up his pride and he came here to die like a man

Therefore god exalted him
To the place of highest praises
And He gave Him a name above every name
That the very name of Jesus
Son of God, Son of Man

So in heaven and earth and below every knee would bow in worship every tongue would proclaim Jesus He reigns with the angels


Jesus came here to this earth for US, His children. So amazing!
Be blessed!
Molly

Christmas Ponderings

Every year I find myself in awe of Christ. In awe of His sacrifice. And absolutely blown away by how beautiful the story of Christ's coming is. God could have sent Jesus to earth in so many ways, but He chose 2 simple people to parent this baby, the Savior of the world. I love thinking about Mary and Joseph. How great the call God had on them as the parents of Christ. How amazing that He grew up just as we do, yet He never sinned. I cannot even fathom what that must be like to have pure actions, pure thoughts, pure words, all the time. He grew up, had a thriving ministry in which He poured himself into the 12 disciples. And then the time came. He moved from the manger scene, from Bethlehem, from Nazareth, and onto a cross with a crown of thorns upon His head. This baby became a man who paid the price for the sins of His people. It is so beautiful. And I am so undeserving of His sacrifice. Yet He did it anyways because He LOVES us more than anything.

Act of Love

He left His home, His heavenly crown

To live upon the earth

This sacrifice when Love came down

To the manger for a lowly birth

His mother feared and trembled

In the midst of labor pains

His father wiped his temple,

A son and a Savior he was to gain.

Under the clear and starry sky

this precious babe was born

A night of sweet serenity,

A calm before the storm.

This tiny child would grow to be

The Christ, the King of Kings

In 30 years you'd find him,

hanging on a tree,

Paying for the sins of man,

Suffering for me.

How can I ever thank Him

For coming to earth that night.

His act of love has changed me

Giving grace, hope, forgiveness, light.

-12/6/10

Traditions

Our family has so many fun and special Christmas traditions. Being away at school has been so hard because I know that we would be doing all of our usual Christmas preparations at home together if I were there.

But instead of wishing I were home doing them, I am instead looking AHEAD to when I do get to go home! And I thought I'd share some of the things we like to do!

1. Watching Christmas movies together

2. Making Christmas cookies

3. Annual gingerbread house making with my brothers- it gets more professional looking every year in my opinion :)

4. Decorating the house

5. Decorating the tree (we did that before I left!)

6. Going to local Christmas music performances

7. Listening to Christmas music and drinking hot cocoa/cider and eating cookies.

8. Going to my aunt and uncle's house to celebrate

9. Having my other aunt and uncle in from New York.

10. Christmas Eve service at our church- my personal favorite event of the whole season!

11. Making gifts for friends and family- I am on a huge time crunch this year for this one!

12. Recieving Christmas cards from everybody

13. Shopping

I'm sure there are more but there's just a few of my favorites :)

What are your favorite Christmas traditions?

Twas the Week Before Christmas*

Twas the week before Christmas and all through our house

Is a hustle and bustle, but not from a mouse.

We've been wrapping, cooking, and running about.

Preparing for Christmas, everything on the to-do list marked out.

The gingerbread house and cookies have been made with great care,

The Christmas cards printed and sent off somewhere.

The gifts were nestled all snug under the tree,

Anticipating the family to gather 'round for some unwrapping.

This morning we went to the airport to get

Aunt Lulu and Uncle Jay Jay from out East, they'd been missed!

When it was all set and done we were ready for a nap,

In fact we might fall asleep on Santa's lap.

When out in the kitchen there arose such a clatter,

It was mom making dinner, nothing was the matter!

Running to the table, we all ran in a flash,

Pulled out our napkins, bowed our heads in a dash.

It was time for our big Christmas dinner you see,

We do it a day early, on Christmas eve.

We gobbled our food, our tummies now full.

We loaded in the car, come one, come all!!

To celebrate Jesus, His coming, His birth

The miracle of Christmas in a service at church.

With Molly on piano, and friends playing other things

The music was delightful as we worshiped our King.

The candles were lit as the congregation sang.

It was a beautiful moment as our voices rang.

Now we are back, snuggled in our house tight.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

*I stole this idea from MckMama. Hope she doesn't mind :) http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

Christmas Pics!!

I hope all of you had a wonderful, relaxing Christmas day! I have so many pictures I have no idea how I'm going to decide which ones to post!!!!

We had a great Christmas day. I woke up before everybody else for some reason so I got up and decided to curl my hair and style it in an up-do- just for fun, since I never take the time to do anything more than straighten it!! After everyone had woken up we had a great breakfast of coffeecake and casserole and proceeded to open stockings:

Then, we opened eachother's presents! Mom with the quilt that I made her!!! :)

My new car stereo!

Tonight, we had our big Christmas dinner with the fam!

Merry Christmas 2008!!

It is Christmas Eve again! We're snuggled up in our family room watching "Miracle on 34th Street" eating popcorn and Christmas cookies, our annual tradition.

I want to wish each and every one of you, whether I've met you or not, a blessed Christmas! May you bask in the greatness of God's PERFECT and BEAUTIFUL gift of sweet baby Jesus.

We had our annual Christmas Eve service. As usual, I jumped around the sanctuary from the choir to the piano to the choir to the keyboard to the piano and back again lol!! These services keep us musicians bouncing around! We LOVE them but breathe a sigh of relief when the last chord is played. The music was beautiful and it was a delight to hear our amazing choir. It has grown so much in the past year and it's amazing to see how much talent God has given our church!

Our annual Christmas eve picture:

Merry Christmas!!

The fam's here!!

Our aunt and uncle from New York arrived on Monday night! We're thankful they're not one of those people that are still sitting in the airport waiting to fly out!

We went out for breakfast with them yesterday (Jay hadn't gotten there yet. Sorry Uncle Jay!)

Lots more pics to come from tommorow's Christmas celebrations! :)

My Christmas Girl

Here's some new pics of my Christmas girl:

It is with a smile on my face and tears in my eyes that I post these. How crazy is that??!! It's so bittersweet. My heart leaps when that monthly email comes, yet it breaks when I see her beautiful face smiling at me. She's so beautiful and just takes my breath away. It's so sad to see her baby fat gone from her face and that "little girl" look blossoming. Mothers are always saddened when they see their "babies" becoming big kids but it is even sadder when you know these kids aren't with their families- they are growing up 1000's of miles away. And.... this is a really depressing post lol. So I'm going to stop!

Deck the halls....

We decorated our Christmas tree today!

My Christmas Princesses

I have two little Christmas Princesses this year. I don't know where they live. I don't know their names. I don't know what they look like or exactly how old they are. But i love them just the same. I went shopping last week for them and had the best time picking out adorable pink things for these precious girls. My little Christmas Princesses are two of the thousands of children who will receive gifts from Operation Christmas Child, run by Samaritan's Purse. It's a project that collects shoeboxes full of gifts for children worldwide. You can pick if you want to give to a boy or girl and what age you want. Then you find a shoebox, and fill it with gifts (they have a list of items on the website). You drop it off at your assigned location (also on the website) and they deliver it to a child who wouldn't get ANYTHING at all for Christmas. You are their Christmas hero. IT IS NOT TOO LATE to participate!! It is SO worth it!

I had picked some stuff up at Meijer's, but was in Target the next day. As I walked through their dollar section I was elated to find Disney Princess things for "my girls!" After that, I started referring to these girls as my Christmas Princesses.

If you are interested in doing Operation Christmas Child, go to http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/ They have everything you need to know on there. Drop-off runs until next Monday. That's a whole 6 days from now, and we have a whole weekend left!

Let us not forget to give this holiday season. In the past I've gotten too wrapped up in the getting part. This year, I hope that I give much more than i get.

I cannot get over these socks!! They are so cute. I kept envisioning Claudia in them and was wishing I could send her a box of Christmas gifts too! :)