Like Mary

I've been pretty quiet over the past two months, I know.  It's not that I've had a shortage of thoughts or material to write on.  In fact, I've had plenty!  Through this holiday season of 2012, I've been drinking it all in, watching my babies enjoy the holidays with wonder.  I even enjoyed my 7th wedding anniversary somewhere in the midst of all the excitement.  It's been especially fun to see Liesel experience her very first Christmas.  Since it's not celebrated in China, this was her first time to have a stocking, a Christmas tree, and she even ate turkey for the very first time at Thanksgiving.  Like Mary in Luke 2 after Jesus' birth, I've been treasuring all these experiences and pondering them in my heart.

For months, before December even arrived, we'd been seeing Christmas trees in the stores.  Liesel's eyes would get big and her face would glow with excitement when I'd tell her that we'd have a tree of our own.  Finally, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we took a ride out to Elgin Tree Farm and picked out our tree.

We found our tree, and hubs cut it down.  Our tree wasn't as tall as last years', but the girls were still very excited about it.  We took it home and decorated it.  The girls oohhed and aaahhhed over all the decorations and lights.  I pulled out a very special stocking my Aunt had made for Liesel, and she was so happy to hang it on our mantel.  

Beautiful Christmas tree

Our stocking hung by the fireplace with care.  

We spent time encouraging the girls to be generous toward others this season.  We participated in Angel Tree Ministries, through our church.  Both my girls picked an angel from the tree.  Only Juliet was able to go with me to pick the toys out because Liesel was sick the day we went, but both girls watched me wrap the gifts and unload them under the tree at church.  We also made them buy a gift for one another.  On Christmas Eve, we all went to Target.  I took Juliet, and hubs took Liesel.  We helped our daughters shop for each other and picked up some stocking stuffers as well.  Finally, both girls received money from their grandparents.  Juliet's went straight into savings.  Liesel saw her money split up between her tithe for church, spending money and savings.  On Sunday, she'll be putting her tithe into the plate as it passes.  It's very important to us that our girls know and understand the meaning of Christmas and the joy of generosity.  

We also tried to teach our girls about the true meaning of Christmas, Jesus' birth.  As part of this, I made a cake on Christmas Eve, a birthday cake for Jesus.  After dinner that night, I lit a candle on the cake, and we all sang, "Happy Birthday to Jesus".  We also enjoyed a birthday party for Jesus at our church.  The girls made crafts, had cake and even got to watch an episode of "Veggietales".  

We spent a quiet, calm Christmas at home.  On Christmas day, we let the girls open their gifts one at a time. Even though we only bought three gifts per child, it still seemed to add up.  

Around 11am, my parents and brother came over to enjoy a lazy afternoon with us.  The girls took their naps, and mom and I finished up the cooking.  We ate our meal around 3.  We decided the later afternoon meal is much more pleasant than the meal around noon.  It's definitely less stressful.  I had plenty of time to get everything cooked, and I didn't even have to get up early to put a turkey in the oven.  The girls had a wonderful and exciting day.  They are still enjoying all their new toys, preferring to play in their room upstairs than to hang out with their mommy.  

The following Saturday, our decorations came down, and our tree was discarded.  Our house is back to normal now.  We celebrated New Year's in a quiet way.  Hubs and I never stay up until midnight, but we celebrated in our hearts, thanking God for all the blessings of 2012 and looking forward to what He has in store for us in 2013.  Last year at New Year's I wrote that 2012 would be the year that we would become a family of four.  What an amazing blessing that has been.  Getting Liesel was quite a journey, but one well worth every step.  We are so thankful, so grateful, so thoroughly blessed.  We wish you and your family a very blessed New Year!  

Happy New Year from our family to yours!