Christmas morning… a little early

Nearly every year we are on the road for Christmas… so we celebrate as a family with our own traditions before we leave.  This year we celebrated on the day the left – Tuesday morning.  Danny had off from work to prepare for our trip so we knew this would be the perfect timing.  We told the kids the night before that tomorrow would be the Lightners’ Christmas and even greeted each other with “Merry Christmas" in the morning!  When Nanna called, we even said “Merry Christmas” to her! 

Josiah was anxiously waiting for what we were going to do… and getting a little impatient!

             

The morning began with the girls singing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus and then singing their other “Happy Birthday, Jesus” song.  Then Danny read the Christmas story from Luke 2 while the girls helped him recite it (the parts they had memorized) and acted out the story with the Nativity Scene (that was Hannah’s idea!). 

   

                                               

                                         

                                   

Then we opened presents…once again we didn’t have a whole lot for each child, but they were THRILLED with our selections.  Grace got a placemat, a special cup with a cool straw for our long trip, and a Crayola Crayon Maker.   Hannah opened a placemat, a special cup, and a “Super Why” Game.   Josiah got a placemat, a special cup and a shirt.   Every year we try to focus on the Lord at Christmas…. truly it is about Him and not the gifts that we receive.  How hard that is in our culture of get, get, get!!  Our kids were truly happy with their gifts and use them ALL THE TIME… the cups and placemats everyday… and we have played with their toys and crayon maker a few times as well.  We want them to remember each Christmas by what they learned about the Lord and not define it according to the gift they got…boy, I could go on and on! 

 

Playing with the crayon maker later that morning….

                                

Playing with the game later that morning…

                              

A GREAT Christmas….we were together as a family….we celebrated our Lord…. and we loved on each other while in our PJs!

Serving with the Life Group

We love our Life Group…. they have become like family to us since we have moved to the Midwest.  We meet with them nearly every Saturday night as we eat together, share about our lives and then study Scripture.  One of the cool things that we get to do together is serve.  Our group went to the church on December 17 to help prepare the Fellowship Hall for our Christmas Reception. 

Grace helped to make the napkins pretty by putting them in a pattern… she was a diligent worker!  (We are working on character traits with the girls, and “diligent” is the one that we are working on right now.   They love saying this big word, but we hope that they do more than just repeat it over and over:  that they will live that quality in all they do as for the LORD!)

                                                  

Some of the older kids, Camryn and Parker, put doilies and centerpieces on the tables while the adults decorated with tablecloths and other arrangements.

                                

            

Tracy and Brian cut up the fruit – cantaloupes and pineapples. 

Where were the little ones?  Danny and Bart graciously volunteered to manage the toddlers and preschoolers in the gym.  They set up one of the bouncy houses and got out balls and riding toys.  We all joined in on the fun when the real work was completed!   Great job, everyone!

 

A Zooey Christmas!

Yup, I couldn’t help myself, but to write that as my title.  We love having a zoo membership so when a fairly warm Saturday came and there were special activities at the zoo, we got all dressed up and headed to the zoo!  It was a lot of fun!  We forgot the stroller, but that was ok because Josiah LOVED walking on his own.  The zoo was hardly full (because everyone was standing in a HUGE line for Santa!) so we didn’t mind Josiah walking around by himself.

                                                     

One of the special things at the zoo was getting to take your picture with a reindeer and sit in a sleigh.  We all loved watching the deer.

   

 

 

Exploring the exhibits….

There were also two fun stations to eat cookies and drink hot chocolate (or luke-warm chocolate) and then make a reindeer hat.

   

      

 

                                   

 

Once again our zoo membership came in handy… a fun Christmassy morning with the family with NO MONEY SPENT!!

My little helper

I had been telling Danny for weeks that Josiah loves helping me with chores around the house.  Right before Christmas, Danny was able to get this picture when he was home.  Josiah loves helping me vacuum, empty the dishwasher, sweep, and put the clothes in the washer and dryer!  What a little man!