merry merry

what a sweet memory yesterday was!!

lillian is in this extremely inquisitive stage. . turning 4 mid february '09

leading up to christmas we've had some really funny and sweet conversations about who jesus is and why he came to earth..and why he came as a baby. why we give one another gifts and

who is S-A-N-T-A??!!!

this is a tough question to answer. . for us anyway. its amazing how so much of how you parent is shaped from how YOU were parented...postive & negative!! we feel so strongly about encouraging our kids to be dreamers...helping them figure out who they've been created to be.. part of that even starts as they were in the womb.. as we prayed over their names.....believeing that their name will speak blessing over their life! we will never-ever tell our kids to not believe in something..that's the greatest thing about being a kid. . . i love the creativity and imagination that lillian already has. . .

so as our tinys get older we are becoming more intentional about our traditions and what we want our kids to absorb while they are under our roof

so back to santa...we didn't make a big deal about it and probably never will; no gifts labled to:liam love: santa... in trying to teach a child their need for jesus; and why he came as a baby; a man in our likeness because of all our disobedience & 'badness' ; to die in our place...that really its jesus you need for all the disobedience in your heart and yet how can i explain this strange fat man in a red suit sneeks in our house and leaves you presents if you are good??!!

hmmmmm. . .this has been a tough one for us...

nonetheless....we are not ba-humbug...we do exchange gifts.i don't think our kids cared who they were from...it was presents!!!

we created a ridiculous mess of wrapping paper...boxes and piles of those tiny plastic ties that fasten toys in their box...they might be the most amazing challenge for even the most nible parent!!

for all the 280 photos we took yesterday...here's just a few!

sleepy lillibug with her bed head. ..

we had christmas dinner with my parents, grant & my uncle 'buzzy'! we did our best to read the christmas story. . but the attention span of the tinys was all of 2 minutes...we resorted to charlie brown's christmas instead!!