Its Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

 

We have been having a lot of fun enjoying this Christmas season and preparing for the celebration of our newborn King.

I read in the book "Treasuring God in our Traditions" by Noel Piper(great book by the way) a quote that I have been thinking about all month
"May our decorations, gifts, and festivities- or lack there of- never block our view of Him, but always point us toward Him." She goes on to talk about not being legalistic about things but to truly allow our minds and our families to not be bogged down or burdened by unnecessary decorations or activities but with the decorations and activities we do participate in to truly find JOY, HOPE, and LOVE.

We have been enJOYing making cookies, doing Christmas crafts, decorating our old and ragged tree(not getting a new one until I don't have a toddler in the house), playing with the advent calendars and reading a corresponding story each day, and then before bed each night acting out the Bible story with our real Nativity set and then eating a piece of chocolate as a suprise. After the third night of reading the story and using the characters I heard Nathan in the other room during the day telling Luke the "Story" and I thought oh how sweet he is really learning and enjoying the reason for the season. But then of course he comes rushing into where I was and said "momma I just told Luke the story about Baby Jesus can I have a piece of chocolate?" Oh well, guess the chocolate was more important to him.