holidays

Well, the holiday madness is finally almost over (I say "almost" because I still have to put away all of my Christmas decorations and take down the tree). I love Christmas and always wish the holiday season lasted longer. Everything about Christmas feels so comfy and warm. I find that I feel the need to burn a holiday scented candle during the months of November and December just to complete the utopic feeling of "cozy." We had a good Christmas this year. It was obviously special since we got to welcome our newest addition to the family, Isaac, just before Thanksgiving and enjoy our new family of five for the Christmas season. We also had a great family Christmas with the Newman side of the family at mom and dad's house. It was important because we had to say goodbye to my brother, Dan, and his wife, Lauren, for a while as they have now moved to Virginia beach to finish school. We will miss having them around and the kids will really miss them. Josh had to work the week of Christmas but he did have Christmas day off, so that was wonderful. Josh's sister, Vanessa, is in town this week from Tulsa, which has been great because the kids don't get to play with cousin Tori very much. Christmas was really fun this year because it was the first year that the kids were really old enough to understand everything about Christmas. They set out cookies for Santa and were really enchanted by the "magic" of Christmas and Santa Claus and all that goes with it. I think I found this especially amusing because I did not grow up doing the Santa thing and really don't know what I missed. But I'm glad my kids are enjoying it. Christmas morning was a lot of fun. We are also trying to teach the kids about the meaning of Christmas, which is that it is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and that we celebrate because Jesus was born to bring salvation to us. Seth thought it was awesome that whole world has a giant birthday party for Jesus. He thought it was especially awesome that Santa brings presents in honor of Jesus' birth and that WE get to open them. We even had a birthday cake and sang happy birthday. We managed to get out and do some fun holiday stuff, even with the new baby. We saw Santa at the mall and the kids sat on his lap and asked for coloring stuff and Lilah wanted a sucker. (yay for easy gift requests!) We went to the Wildlights at the Zoo with grandma, Vanessa and Tori and then again with my brother, Ben and the Newman cousins. It was so much fun, although very cold! We are very thankful for all of God's blessings this past year. And as we head into the new year, we are looking forward to all that God has for us for 2009.