Deck the Halls!
Aaron and Jake picked out a beautiful Christmas tree and we all had a great time decorating the house for the holidays. Lauren is just like her Mommy and loves this tradition the best!
Gracie loves looking at the glowing tree! Thankfully, she hasn't been too interested in taking off the ornaments.
This is one of my favorite decorations in the whole house. It is a tree decorated with ornaments made by Lauren and Jake over the years. It won't be long before Gracie begins adding her handmade ornaments also.
Another favorite of mine is the garland. I think part of my nostalgia for Christmas garland comes from my own childhood. It was my favorite decoration that Dad would put up each year. I used to hate when the holidays ended and it had to come down. The stairs suddenly seemed so bare. Lauren loves to hang the stockings. She chooses a stocking holder for each family member and then delicately hangs each stocking. Gracie just had a a great time with all the new sights in the house. She laughed and smiled. It was precious. I can have had the hardest day, be absolutely exhausted and that smile of hers can light up the room and change my whole mood.
Saturday we celebrated Lauren's 7th birthday with her friends. Her birthday is still a couple of weeks away but I always try to have her party the first weekend in December, before all of the hectic schedules really get underway. We had a great time this year. She had her party at Wizard Animation Studios. I had never heard of this before and am so glad that I found this place. It was an amazing party. Each child could "star" in their own movie. They could pick the theme and then would go into a recording booth, with blue screens surrounding them. The "director" would give them short lines to repeat and simple actions. They were dressed in costume, which was adorable. There was usually three children per movie. We had a large group and so five movies were made. At the end of the party, each child took home a copy of their movie. All of the girls chose the Alice in Wonderland themed movie and my nephews, Ryan and Ben, chose a dinosaur movie. While a group was filming the movie, everyone else was in the party room where each of the 4 walls had a large movie screen and they could play Mario Kart Wii, other video games, sing Karaoke, etc. It was a big hit and we all had a great time. Here is the movie that Lauren made. It is so funny!
I loved having both of my parents and my sister Karen and her two boys, Ryan and Ben in from Atlanta. Lauren loved having them at her party. It was a fun day!
And last but not least...We were so proud of Lauren on Sunday evening. The children's ministry at our church put on "The Mystery of the Manger" and it was so cute. They all did a great job but of course, my eyes (and camera) was glued on our baby girl. She worked so hard learning all of her music months ahead of time. We spent a lot of time listening to her CD in the car and so we ALL knew the music by the time this program came around. Lauren knew all of the motions and my heart was just melting the whole time.
Aaron and I were so proud of her and I can't even describe the feeling that it gave me to watch our daughter sing about the love of Jesus. That really is what the Christmas season is all about. At Christmas, we all do so much rushing around. We go to different parties, or we run from store to store finding that perfect gift or the latest toy, and it is too easy to forget why we celebrate this time of year. Aaron and I don't ever want to be so busy that we forget to teach our children the true reason for the season.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life," John 3:16 NIV
2 comments:
I started reading your blog with the biggest smile on my face, then I was crying by the end! Only a writer can move someone that quickly. You are such a beautiful family, and you look amazing. Your hair is gorgeous!
Such cute pics---I love the one of Gracie and that big beautiful smile! Precious!
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