Christmas is in the Air

It has been a while since I have posted. I have been on a blogging drought lately. Sorry to my readers, if I even have any left. :) I will attempt to keep you better up to date.

Today was a wonderful Christmas season day! I was sort of dreading the day because we had a bunch of different commitments to be at today, however it ended up being a very awesome day! We started off the morning by volunteering at the local Food Bank. We dropped off Bubby at my parents house because we figured he would be more work then help as we volunteered. When we arrived at the Food Bank they took us to the warehouse and we jumped right in. Our job...unpack boxes of frozen pizzas, glue labels on them, then repackage them in the boxes. We had quite the system going. TW would get the box off of the forklift pile, I would pass them out into two lines (each girl had her own line), the girls would put glue on them, TW would stick the label on, I then came to the end of the line and repacked the box, and TW would then carry the box back to the pile. We were whippin out boxes right and left. My heart melted when the girls started singing Christmas carols. O' Come All Ye Faithful and Joy to the World is what could be heard coming out of their little mouths. They were full of joy! At one point AAP said, "This is so much fun." All I kept picturing was the families that would be eating this food. I was picturing them putting the pizzas into their oven feeling blessed that they had food to eat. I found myself praying over the food for the people that would receive it. It was a great experience and one we will do again soon!

We then headed to get the girls some lunch and get them to dance practice on time. We dropped them off at the dance studio for practice and their Christmas party for their competition team. Then on to my parents house to pick our little guy back up. We hung out with my parents for a while. It felt good being at their house. My mom always decorates for all the holidays and goes all out on Christmas. Being in their home just gets you in the mood. After hanging out we headed home and put Bubby down for a nap. This meant the house was quiet. Something that happens rarely at our home. The girls were gone and the little guy was sleeping. TW and I took advantage of the time to just hang out. Bubby is getting a train table for Christmas so we put that together and hid it in the guest bathroom bathtub. One of my favorite things is to light the candles turn on some soft music and just relax. This is exactly what we did. It was nice.

We then grabbed a bite to eat and we were on our way to get the girls picked up from their party. After that we went to Little Bethlehem. A church close to us sets up a reenactment of the scene of Jesus' birth. As we arrived some Shepherds greeted us and walked us through the Christmas Story. At the end we had cookies and enjoyed some music and caroling inside the church. Christmas sure was in the air! When we got home I fixed everyone some hot chocolate and we sat around the fire. I asked everyone to think about and share what they were most thankful to God for this year. I then asked everyone to think about and share what their gift to Jesus would be this Christmas. AAP started out with her heart. She shared that the best way that she can give Christ her heart is by showing love to others. She talked about working at the Food Bank again, giving food to the homeless people that hang out downtown, and working at a Soup Kitchen. My gift is time. I want to spend more time reading and learning from the Bible. TW's gift was his trust. Lastly, Livi's gift was a small Christmas tree with ornaments on it. It was great family bonding. I hope to make this a tradition after visiting Little Bethlehem every year. AAP and I had to head out for her to do a dance performance and while we were gone AKP, Bubby, and TW decorated a tree for Jesus. It now sits on our end table in the living room. How precious.

I can't remember a better day in a very long time!