Traditions

Last night was our "decorate the house for Christmas" night. I love this time of year. It's chalk fun of memory making opportunities. My children are super excited about everything--cookies, snow, the tree and presents! For us, Christmas is about more than that. It's about celebrating the birth of a Savior- God who became man and died for our sins. We want  our children to grow up to desire God and serving him.

On our decorating day, we listen to Christmas music as Bob puts up the tree and we bake cookies. Before we decorate it, we give the boys one gift (the same one every year), a little people nativity scene. Bob reads the Christmas story from their children's Bible and they play with the set. Dawson was so cute when we asked him who the baby was. "Baby Jeeeesusss." I'll have to video him saying it. It is too cute.
             

         I always picture this night like those commercials. Everyone dressed in coordinating outfits. The spouses hugging while the children neatly hang ornaments and periodically ask to hear the story of one of those beloved ornaments. Instead I have to beg Ollie to put clothes on and wrestle Dawson into pants.    While baking cookies, Dawson is jamming his fingers into them. They are both pulling out ornaments and throwing the paper they were wrapped in all over the floor. They are wacking  each other with the branches from the tree.Eh. This is what memories are made of, right?