time flys....

Keeping Christ is Christmas can be a difficult task with all the marketing & branding the boys are exposed to. Charlie and I are trying to be purposeful with the boys' time and gifts. We're again sticking to the "3" gifts from us. This year the spiritual part of the gifts is made up of 3 small things that make up one gift...charlie thought i was stretching that one a little...but we digress...We have 3 DVD's that we only watch at Christmas time and it has been nice to see those again. And this week we went to a birthday party for Jesus. My dear wonderful & creative friend had 2 jammed packed hours of games, quizzes, reenactments and cake planned for some of our friends. It was great!!
We continue to prep our boys during normal conversation about being thankful for anything they get. Ethan said the other day , "even if I only get a bag of fruit, I'm going to be thankful". Well he's not getting a bag of fruit, but i pray that both E & E will be thankful for their gifts. We've also spent time focusing on the historical accounts of Anna and Simon and their response to seeing the Savior as a baby. Also used it to remind the boys of the elderly that may be especially lonely during the holidays.
There are others ways we're trying, by God's grace, to point our children to the manger and then to the cross this season. There are so many ways it makes me love Christmas time even more! Here are some photos over the last couple of weeks....

check out the little angel standing on the table!

the boys were in the church's Christmas play. That was such a blessing to watch!

The youth group raised $320 to buy items for Samartian Purse Ministry. We filled 24 boxes and paid for the shipping to be includes with the millions that are sent through the Operation Child: shoebox ministry. It was neat to see the teens thinking of others and have fun with it!

playdates with friends are important. here elliot and Jude play nicely with the manger set. it would have been awful if they were fighting over Baby Jesus!?

Charlie's yearly cookie bake. these are the type of cookies that he made as a kid and enjoys making them with our children. We were able to share them with friends at church.