Christmas Memories

It was an enjoyable Christmas at home here in Florida this year. We visited Santa at the Circle...We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day... Bits and pieces of our Christmas tree.

The Christmas Village

My Grandma Frances has had this Christmas village my whole life. When we were little and would go out to cut our own Christmas trees we would also collect what we called "deer moss" for the greenery in the village. There are all these cute little houses with openings in the back for the lights to be stuck into and over the years my grandma has added a few pieces here and there. The center of the village is the Nativity, of course. This year, I learned that my grandma has had the village since they lived in Columbia, South America. So, the village is 50-something years old.

This year, on Christmas Eve, I happened to catch Rylee playing with the village. At first, I thought it was just her usual playing with dolls, talking and laughing with the little people of the village ( I resisted the urge to use the phrase "village people" there...believe me, it was tough). But, as I listened closer (and grabbed my camera) I realized she was having all the people coming to the center of the village to see Baby Jesus. This is one of the reasons I am so thankful to have a camera to record these moments I, otherwise, may have forgot.

The Jesse Tree

Our family started a new tradition this year, all thanks to my good friends: Robyn, Heidi, and Heidi. It started a year, or even two years, ago when Robyn started talking about the Jesse Tree and the devotionals being something she wanted to do with her family at Christmas time. Well, fast forward a few years and we decide to put that thought to reality. With Robyn's organization and everyone jumping in feet-first; we did it.

Between the four of us we made 27 ornaments for 4 families and Robyn sent us the devotionals for each of the 27 days (about) between the Sunday after Thanksgiving and today, Christmas Day. We each made 4 copies of 6 or 7 ornaments each representing a story or person leading to the birth of Jesus, our savior. The best part of having four different people creating the ornaments was the differing styles of each. I also enjoy the fact that every year my family, and their families, will have a family heirloom my best friends helped create.

The first day of the Jesse tree is this verse...

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD— 3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. -Isiaih 11: 1-3

Each day, starting with creation, tells the story of someone, some event, or prophecy leading to the birth of Jesus. While, my kids' attention sometimes wasn't the best; it did keep our family centered on the "reason for the season." We finished the Jesse Tree this Christmas morning, before opening any presents or stockings, by finishing the story of the birth of Jesus and placing the star on top of our Jesse Tree. Thanks girls for a family tradition I hope my own kids will do with their families one day (they'll just have to make their own ornaments ;).

Sooooo.....

It's been almost a year since my last post, and well, I feel the need to update. I've had some requests to keep my blog going (For you Laverne, Sara, and Aunt Jane!) and looking back, while facebook is easy and quick, I like the diary feel of a blog. I like seeing my words with cute pictures of my kids. I think, one day, I'll be happy I had this (sort of) updated record of what we were doing right now. So an update of the last few months... we started school...we played soccer...we played baseball...and watched baseball......we trick or treated. Our Christmas season has been busy, as well, but that will be another post (I promise!)