Our Christmas this year was EXTRA joy-filled and special because it was spent with my wonderful parents in South Dakota! It had been many years since we braved that 12-hour roadtrip in December, and it was well worth it. Watching the joy on my kids' faces and my parents' faces as they interacted all week long was my greatest Christmas gift from God. The kids spent hours with my parents doing old-fashioned, simple pleasures like playing cards, setting puzzles, sledding, and sharing amazing meals. Other Christmas highlights included the St. Andrew School Christmas program and our evening family devotion-time, where Paul read aloud a wonderful Christmas story called "Ishtar's Odyssey". All of our kids, both young and old, enjoyed the story and loved their daddy's voice interpretations of all the various characters. :) It was a Christmas filled with joy, traditions, and memories that will remain with us for many years. Here are some of those captured memories:
Oops, a few of us didn't get the memo about wearing red :)
Not sure what Dominic is doing to Natey's head. Too bad Photoshop has its limitations :)
I am fairly certain that I have a picture of every single one of my boys on this same rocking horse, and even a picture of ME on that rocking horse. My mom made it ages ago and it is still galloping strong!
These two competitive gentlemen played many-a-game together and loved every minute of it, win or lose.
South Dakota sure gets bitter-cold, but that didn't stop Grandma or Isaiah from enjoying the outdoors!
Cranberry pork loin and pineapple ham...yum!
It was beautiful watching all the boys help each other open presents and be excited about the gifts that each one of them received. We try to keep the gifts to a minimum, and I was happy at how content our children were with not getting much. A reminder to me that Christmas truly is about giving and not getting, and we need to strive even more to focus on the giving part.
Uncle Mike is so much fun!
Paul reading our Advent devotional each night was one of the season's highlights for all of us!
Dominic is the boy with the big cello and a big heart for Jesus and for music.
We sure strove to keep Jesus at the center of our Christmas season. We didn't succeed perfectly, but we sure gave it our perfect effort, and hopefully that consoled His tender heart.
Happy belated Birthday, Jesus!
We love you with all of our hearts!!!
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