our christmas

ready for church in her Christmas dress

i've been trying to post a video for the past 2 weeks of Charis but can't. so, some pictures will have to do.

in the car in mcadenville

for the weeks leading up to Christmas we talked about how it was Jesus' birthday. ever since my nieces' birthday and her own, she seems to get the whole "happy birthday" thing. we want Charis to know that Christmas is about Jesus...about him coming to earth as a baby to rescue us. this felt like the first year we could really talk about all of that with her. you know, now that she is 2 and understands the world. actually, she is soaking everything up. so it feels like now is the time to teach her and tell her about the "new born King."

loving her ladybug boots

and now that we have a kid we are figuring out what traditions we want to have. how do we want her to grow up celebrating Christmas? it's our job to make the day about Jesus. so we started by reading the story of Jesus' birth from Luke in the Storybook Bible. she was totally engaged as we talked about baby Jesus. it was a little tricky to transition from that to opening presents. we are figuring out how to make the connection. Jesus was God's gift to us, so we give gifts on Christmas? the Wise Men took Jesus gifts so now we give gifts? i'm not sure. and i think we still have some time to figure all that out. we presented her gifts to her and she gladly opened a few. she would play with her gift and after about 3 gifts she lost interest in opening. she wasn't quite sure what to do with the stocking but she seemed excited about the stickers and new toothbrushes. i have to admit it was fun to watch her because it was all so innocent.

not really sure what to think of it all

all the medical stuff forced us to slow down this Christmas. which i have to admit was nice. i didn't feel busy or overwhelmed. and we were able to enjoy the time as a family. it was perfect. and there were so many people that made this time special for us. we were invited to a fire station out on lake wylie. the team of firefighters had heard about us through my new friend, anne marie, that i met at the komen race. and they wanted to invite us out and let us "play" at the station. then they gifted me with the sweetest locket necklace. i was so touched by the whole thing...the way they loved and enjoyed Charis, the way they were touched by my story enough to meet us. and there were other random gifts throughout the week that totally blew us away. God is taking care of us in more ways than we can imagine. He is providing for our needs and beyond. not only financially but relationally. we have so much to be thankful for. but mostly i'm thankful for Jesus.


firegirl charis to the rescue!!

our friends at station 38!

charis and pooh bear