Merry Christmas!

We decided to go totally Griswald this year and coordinate Christmas sweaters for out photo! I think it turned out pretty cute... cheesy, but cute!
I'm putting the finishing touches on packing this evening, and tomorrow we head east to have a "real" Christmas! You know - the kind with snow (hopefully), hats, mittens, icy roads.... what it should be like at Christmastime. We take to the skies for the 4th time this year with the kids, but the dread still persists. We are praying up, though, and can't wait to land at Nonna and Pappy's house.

This will probably be my last post until we return unless something really blogworthy happens while we are there so I'll get in my Merry Christmas post now.

I heard a story at church that I think bears repeating... if you've heard it before, bear with me - I have a point.
There once was a prince of marrying age who just couldn't seem to find the right match out of all the fair royal maidens in his kingdom. The time was coming soon that he should choose a bride, but he dispaired, for he did not find the one he loved. Then one day, on an errand for his father, the king, he passed through a poor village. His eyes fell upon a beautiful, but very poor maiden, and he was immediately smitten. The prince would often make up errands to run, just so he could see her or maybe even talk to her. But his heart was saddened - due to their difference in social class, she could never be his bride. The prince even thought, "I am royalty - I could approach her and demand that she be my wife." But he knew that she could never love him if she was forced to marry him.
The prince finally came to a decision... "I will be one of them. I will live among them, like them, know them, and woo her to become my bride." This is what he did, and the bride became his.
This is exactly what Jesus did for us. He came here as a poor baby to a cold world who didn't even know it needed Him. Jesus came as a human to live among us, talk to us, and know us so that he could woo us to become His bride. With this comes eternal life in His kingdom of heaven. What an awesome gift from the King of Kings.
With this, we say, "Happy Birthday, Jesus" and "Merry Christmas to all."

Christmas Program

Today, Santa Fe Christian Preschool put on their Christmas Program, "A Child is Born." Bella played a lamb (as in "...the ox and lamb kept time..."). Her Bearcub class, the youngest of those at the Early Childhood Education Center, sang "Little Drummer Boy" and recited Luke 2:10. Watch the videos (don't forget to pause the music player on the left of the blog page) - Bella was pretty proud of herself, and I was proud of her, too!

Keeping it Simple

As some may know, we have nicknamed our youngest child, Luca, "Destructor."
This is why, to my sad dismay, that we had to keep the Christmas decorating simple this year. Rather than our 2 trees, we decided to do one - the smallest one. We also put it on carpet rather than our hard floor, just in case one of the bulbs "fell" or landed there.
It turned out to be a good decision. Although Luca was very excited and curious about the tree, he obeyed pretty well when we told him not to touch it. However, during one busy moment, I failed to notice him taking off one of the bulbs. I heard a crash and realized that he threw (yes, threw) one of my oldest ornaments against the hearth. He must have thought that that Pitt Ornament that was given to me before I ever even studied at the University of Pittsburgh was a ball. I cleaned up the glass, called Keith, and cried.
Now all I have left of it is in this picture, and I am now very diligent about watching the two little lovelies like a hawk when they are near our very modest, very homey and cherished little tree.

We've also heard that here on the west coast, some homes with children that will be traveling east for Christmas will be getting a visit from Santa this weekend. We'll keep you posted!