A Christmas Snapshot

Our Christmas Celebration began with getting all decked out for Christmas Eve Services...the girls looked absolutely adorable, especially with their matching dresses for their babydolls :)

After the Christmas Eve Service message was given, we had the girls join us for the candlelight service and a few closing Christmas carols.  Megan smiled ear to ear the whole time...she loved it!

 Alexia was more reflective as she listened to everyone sing "Silent Night."

 After the service was over, the girls actually cooperated with getting their photo taken...my heart always melts a little when I see them loving on each other.  My, oh my...they are growing up so fast!

 After we returned from church, we had a small Christmas Eve gathering so that the girls could open their gifts from their grandparents...one of their favorite gifts were these travel backpackets from Grammy & Papa in Erie.  5 days later, they are still wearing these backpacks around the house and taking them with them wherever I'll let them.

Christmas day was a very special time for us this year...I loved watching my precious girls exerience the magic and awe of this holiday!  We kept things pretty simple this year and I'm so glad we did (I have to give credit to my hubby for this).  While I love to host family and friends in our home, we decided to take a pass on that this year and spend most of Christmas day at home, with a fairly simple agenda...enjoy each other and a few fun gifts...as we celebrated Jesus' birthday! 

Alexia and Megan both slept in on Christmas morning, which was a gift to Mommy & Daddy!  So, we ended up eating breakfast together before we opened gifts.  After breakfast, I told Alexia to go and find the one present under the tree that had ALL of our names on it and bring it back to the table.  After quite a search, she brought it back and unwrapped it...it was baby Jesus.  We took a few minutes to remind each other that the greatest gift of Christmas is... the Gift of Jesus!  We talked about why Jesus is such a gift to us and that this gift is available to everyone in the world.

Alexia first discovering Baby Jesus was the gift!



Papa then helped Alexia place Baby Jesus in the manger scene

 Throughtout the day, we enjoyed opening more gifts, hanging out together, getting a visit from our neighbor and simply enjoyer a slower pace of life.

 

 

  

   

After an enjoyable and relaxed day, we got ready for some more fun times with family at Aunt Andrea & Uncle Chuck's house...of course, I had to make sure we got at least one family snapshot before we left  (yes, this was why we were late getting there....oh well) :)

We had a nice time at Andrea & Chuck's and, of course, the kids had a blast with their cousins!  

Cute picture, but poor Joshy...what is he going to do surrounded by all these girls????



 These girls love each other so much!  With school being closed this week, they are getting some extra time together with some sleepovers and extra playdates...building more memories...one day at a time!

Prayers answered...

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been really intentional about trying to keep Christmas simple this year and have been asking God to give us, as a family, a new perspective on what he wants us to learn through this Christmas season...and I think those prayers have been answered...

Last week there was a tragic auto accident not far from our home which killed a 23 year old woman from our church.  She was a mom of a 2 year old and was 8 months pregnant (she had also previously lost a child through miscarriage).  She and her husband had just been married in August.  This family has only been attending our church for about 4 weeks...but we held the funeral yesterday and I saw over 100 Daybreakers respond to reach out to this family through helping out at the visitation and funeral, providing gifts, cards, casseroles of food and desserts for the funeral reception and simply showing God's love and care to a family we hadn't even really met yet.  I was so proud of our church family for the way that they, without hesitation, set their own busy Christmas to-do lists aside this week and made a difference in the lives of a family who needed us during this tragic time.
It reminded me, once again, the importance of remembering the true meaning of Christmas.  Yes, I talk to the girls often about Christmas being a time that we celebrate Jesus' birthday and try to help them understand what a gift Jesus is to us...I emphasize the importance of giving instead of receiving...I talk to them about family and that Christmas is a special time of year to make wonderful memories together.  At times, I have wondered how much of all of that they actually take in...and yet, today, I quickly realized that "they get it."
The girls and I began our day wrapping up a few more presents and then decided to make some cookies to take to our neighbors.  As we were in the kitchen baking, Alexia commented that we should take some cookies to "Carter", the little boy who just lost his mom in the accident.  She then said, "I know he is sad that his mommy is in heaven, but maybe we could take him some cookies and milk to help him feel better."  It was one of those moments that you feel as though you couldn't be more proud of your kids.  Later, I was asking the girls what they hoped they were getting for Christmas and Alexia said, "I hope I get something I can give to Carter."  Megan responded, "Yea, yea...that's a great idea Alexia."  Neither of the girls have ever met this little boy, but their giving and compassionate spirit brought tears to my eyes! 
So, like I said at the beginning of this post...I have been praying for some perspective this Christmas season...and I think we found it :)

Here are a few pictures of us making cookies for our neighbors (and for Carter)...



Of course, the best part of baking is being able to "lick the spoon" or the "paddle attachment" in this case!



Christmas Fun...

Wow, last week was busy with many fun Christmas get-togethers and activities!  Here are a few pictures of the highlights:


Daybreak's Christmas Cafe 2010


  Every year I look forward to Daybreak's Annual Christmas Cafe!  This year, we invited our neighbors to join us and the kids got a quick picture together...the girls also caught up with many of their other Daybreak and Small Group Friends...I am so thankful that my kids have been able to develop such strong, special friendships at a very early age...these are friendships, I believe, that will last a lifetime!




Alexia & Alayna

Megan & Connor

  

Is she really only 5 years old???

 We also began some of our family Christmas get-togethers!  The first for us this year was getting together with Grandpops at his place in Hershey...the kids had so much fun with their Aunts, Uncles and Cousins and I imagine that Scott's Dad is still recovering from all of the activity...He made a wonderful holiday meal for all of us, spolied the kids like crazy with gifts that they absolutely loved and allowed himself to be a jungle gym for Alexia & Jillian! 

Yes, he is dragging them up and down the hallway...they were giggling and laughing like crazy!

Megan is obsessed with Dora



Since we don't have a dog,  I guess this is Scott's version of
"A Man's Best Friend!"



 I loved this picture of Grandpops and Megan...it summed up the whole day!  As we were later driving out of Hershey, Megan said, "I loved being there today.  Can we go back tomorrow?"  Well, I let her know that Grandpops probably needed a good rest the next day, but that we would see him again soon! 
We definitely have to make visits with Grandpops a greater priority in 2011.

Thank you, Grandpops, for a special day :)

Girls Night In

With Scott having to work tonight, the girls and I decided to do a gingerbread house together as a "surprise" for Daddy when he got home from a long day and night at work! 

They were very eager, especially when I gave each of them their own knife to spread the icing...

Let the decorating begin...

 Alexia was very focused as she began the decorating process...She loves making patterns and this gingerbread house gave her the perfect opportunity to let her creativity shine!


Megan was focused, too...focused on HOW MUCH CANDY she could steal and eat before we noticed.  See the bowl of evidence to the left :)




We did manage to get Megan re-engaged in the decorating for a couple of minutes while Alexia prepped the final pieces of candy to add some "shrubbery" to the front of the house.

After they finished their creation, a bath was definitely in order to clean off the layers of sugar that they seemed to have from head to toe.  Then, we finished off the night with a fire,
movie and some hot chocolate.

Between the icing, candy, and hot chocolate, Megan has been wired all night (it's currently 10:07 pm and she's still awake)!  Alexia, on the other hand, fell asleep shortly after the movie began. Megan is finally settling down now with her baby and bunny as she has them and herself lined up "watching the fire".  Hopefully bedtime will come soon!

ECC's Christmas Program

Tonight was the Annual Christmas Program at the ECC, which is the preschool where Alexia and Megan attend (Alexia gets dropped off there for a little bit each day after Kindergarten).  This was Alexia's third year participating in the program and Megan's second year.  They each picked which "character" they wanted to be from the Christmas Story of the Birth of Jesus and while the story was told during the program, they went up on the stage when their character was mentioned. 

Alexia practicing "Glory, Glory, Glory to God...Glory in the Highest..."

Megan giving "Baby Jesus" some lov'in :)

 Alexia had a great time at the performance! She was smiling and singing the whole time (well, actually..there was a little bit of socializing in the mix).  All in all, though, I was thrilled that she had such a great time because this was her last performance at the ECC. 
She was an awesome angel and we were very proud of her!

 Our little "Mary" did pretty well overall.  The program didn't begin until 7:00 and she is usually starting to hit the wall at that point....but she hung in there!  Her biggest smiles of the night came when she looked up and saw her Daddy watching and waving at her from the balcony...she kept waving and "blowing kisses" to him...she sure loves her Daddy! 

I am very thankful that the girls have been able to be a part of the ECC family...they have loved their experience there ~the staff have gone above and beyond to help create many wonderful memories for them.

Visit from the Tooth Fairy

Alexia has had a loose tooth for a couple of weeks now, and last night we experienced the long awaited event...she lost her first tooth!  Alexia was so excited as many of her friends have been losing their teeth for many months now :)  

Who knew a lost tooth would bring such joy?  She had her tooth in a baggy and under her pillow immediately...I think before we even got the bleeding to stop!  Who cares about a bloody tooth when you have to prepare for the tooth fairy to come...?

And what was Megan doing while all this celebration was happening?  She had fallen asleep on the couch hugging her DVD player...she loves her Dora video :)

When I woke Alexia up this morning for school, she sat right up in bed (which never happens)...threw her pillow back and discovered two $1.00 bills.  (The tooth fairy's hubby was feeling a bit generous last night)!!
And then a moment came that totally caught me off guard...she handed me one of the dollars and said, "one for you and one for me."  When I asked her why she was giving me one of her dollars, she said "because you're a great mom and I love you."
Alexia truly is one great kid!  I love her a ton!

I guess a trip to the dollar store is in order after school today...how fun!