December Memories

In the past few days, Jeremy has lost 2 teeth! 

 "All I want for Christmas are my two front teeth!"  Actually, it should be four teeth!

We ran across this Santa while shopping and there was no line.  Our kids don't really have any Santa pictures.  It stems from my desire to make sure our kids know that the focus of Christmas is actually on Jesus, not Santa.  Jason and I made the decision long ago that we wouldn't "play up" Santa.  Jeremy continues to ask us if Santa is real, and we continue to ask him what he thinks.  We tell him that some people believe and that some don't.  Grace has told us she knows that Santa is just a character.  This is actually another reason why we open gifts on Christmas Eve.  Why should Santa get all the credit?  We give gifts to show love because God first showed us love by giving us a Savior.  At our house, Santa only fills the kids' stockings.  It'll be an interesting conversation to have with the kids when they're older, whether or not they felt deprived in their childhood that we didn't go out on a limb to make Santa more real for them.

 It was very weird this year to go through the holiday season without a class of my own.  I am thankful that I am still welcomed to be a part of Harvest's staff.  Robert and Julie made the staff a pancake breakfast on the last day before Winter Break.

I wasn't expecting to get anything this year since I travel to so many different sites and my class is often an "afterthought."  I can't even begin to express how much it affected me to be thought of and given these gifts from my Harvest class. 

On the last day before Winter Break, Jeremy's class had Grinch Day and he was supposed to dress up as a Who.  Grace's class also dressed up, or should I say, dressed down since they had PJ Day.

Our district has been collecting canned foods for its annual Holiday Joy food drive.  Jeremy and I brought some cans but he asked, "Where are these going?" "Who is getting these?"  I thought it would be a good opportunity for us to serve and learn the answers to those questions firsthand.  On the first day of Winter Break, we went to join others in sorting cans and making food boxes.  We also stayed to watch cars pull through as they came to receive their food box.  I hope this experience is just one of many times this season when our kids will realize how blessed our family is.


We celebrated Ella's first birthday at the skating rink downtown.  It'll likely be our first and only time skating this year.

It has been years since we've been to Candy Cane Lane.  I am so happy we got to do that this year.  Candy Cane Lane is a neighborhood in Clovis where all the houses decorate for Christmas.  There are no sidewalks though, so as you walk around, there are also cars driving along.  We really enjoyed it, especially since we had the chance to stop at our friends' home, the Stobbes. Such a special family- Greg and Geena were both of our kids' first babysitters when they were newborns.  We don't get to see them very much anymore so it was great to catch up with them. Geena even made the kids hot chocolate! I am so disappointed I didn't think to take a picture!

 Oh look, a picture with Santa!