the excitement of Christmas

It all started on friday morning. "Are we going to open our presents today mommy?" "Is Santa coming down the chimney tonight?" Our plans were to have our family Christmas on friday night and Santa was visiting our house early saturday morning. The excitement grew and grew all day long and we could hardly contain ourselves! It is truly amazing to experience this thru the eyes and ears of a child. We had a precious dinner with candlelight, a time of sharing stories and discussing Christmas' when mommy and daddy were kids. At last, the time was here. We had studied throughout the month that the wise men came to the baby Jesus and they brought three gifts to him as a sign of worship. We each had three gifts like baby Jesus. William went first and was so excited to see his CARS race track mountain/CARS game. He also received a book about a cowboy named Gideon (from the Bible) and a puzzle that helps him spell words like cat, fish, and boat. The excitement didn't stop there. He was so overwhelmed about seeing us open our gifts that it truly warmed my heart. As the night drew to a close, the questions and comments about santa started coming. "Will we hear his reindeer?" "I hope he likes his cookies." "He won't come unless I am asleep mommy." This was the ONLY time I have ever seen him ready for bed before 9:00pm! Needless to say, the excitement hit an all time high on saturday morning. We went in to wake him up and William says "did he come?" "Let's go look at our stockings." We hurried into the living room to find more goodies in our stockings and then the surprise under the tree. A bicycle! Santa brought me a bicycle were the words coming out of his mouth over and over. He was so pleased and wanted to ride it down the hall and he kept saying "thank you santa; thank you" I will cherish this excitment forever. The anticipation, the true happiness in his eyes. What a great Christmas!

Dondra

Daily Reflections

As each day of december has come and gone, there has been this little voice asking "Mommy, when is Christmas? When is Santa going to be here? Have we done our paper chain today?" I wanted to reflect every day on something new and different to make each day special for William ,Tim, and I. We made a paper chain at the beginning of the month and we have been anxiously counting the days. Each day brought a new adventure like putting up the tree, decorating it with countless ornaments, and making cookies for his teachers at school. I hope as the holiday comes (and goes) that he will be able to remember all the little celebrations we did and keep them in his mind as new Christmas' are promised. What a joy it has been to celebrate and share with him about the meaning of Christmas.

Dondra

this has been our verse all month "For unto us a child is born..." Isaiah 9:6

Every Day

On tuesday of this week, Tim and I had a milestone; we have been together for 15 years. Yes, on that special day in 1992, we went on our first date. As I look back at all these years and how I really can not imagine my life without him, I am drawn to this song. It is a new song by Rascal Flatts and as I listened to it on the way home, tears starting streaming down my face. This is so true of my relationship with him and I am thankful for everyday we spend together.

"...my secrets are safe, the only one who gets me, you get me , it's amazing to me how every day every day...every day , you save my life."

to every day, I love you Tim!

Dondra

a Weekend Away

This past weekend William had the opportunity to go and stay with his Grumpy and Granny Lou. He always has such a great time and was looking forward to it. Each time as I checked in on him, he sounded like such a big boy on the phone. He told me about riding the tractor (a john deere riding lawn mower), about throwing rocks at the pond, and of course going to wal-mart. While he was at their house, Tim and I attended our leadership retreat for the church during the first part of the weekend and then we had some time to ourselves. It is amazing how quite the house is when William is gone. It is nice to have those weekends; you can enjoy being together as a husband and wife (and not answer a million questions at dinner) and really have time to focus on yourself and get some things done. As the week has progressed, it is uplifting that God knew that we all would need a weekend away. A time to prepare for the busyness and craziness of our days and weeks. Whether we all get away as a family or we do something like this past weekend...we need to remember that those are the times that keep us going.