A Celebration

Usually, preparing for Christmas would bring to mind faith themes for me. My life is about the Lord and this is HIS holiday – a holy day.

This has been a really rough year for us, though, and right now all I want to do is sit back, relax, and enjoy the atmosphere! Christ is the center, as always, and a big part of preparing for Christmas for our family is preparing our hearts and minds for the spiritual mindset appropriate for the season. It is, after all, a celebration of the birth of our Savior, and this year I want to actually celebrate!

It’s been a huge relief for us to turn on the Christmas music and break out the decorations. My husband is working a full time job, going to school full time (finals are next week!!), and also working on our home in exchange for rent… in his spare time. (Please hear my sarcasm there, I beg of you!) So, it’s a rare moment when we can just relax and have fun. This Christmas season, though, we are making a point of it!!

We got out the tree and decorations this past week, and by the time this post is live hubby will have the lights up outside. This weekend we are decorating the rest of the house – we have poinsettas, candles, garlands, and artwork of all sorts for almost every room in the house! We usually get all of this done the weekend after Thanksgiving, but we have been so pressed for time that we are doing it in spurts. It’s still enjoyable even if it’s not the way it always has been.

We also took a family trip and rode the Polar Express! That was so much fun, and I can’t even express what a joy it was to just have time with the family and no other obligations. Just a fun train ride in east Texas, eating cookies and drinking hot chocolate, and singing in the van all the way there and back. Family time is really precious to us this year.

In all of this preparing, my extended family is also preparing for the birth of a new baby boy – my nephew will be here by the time this is posted as well. Every child is a blessing, and the pending arrival of my new nephew is helping remind me and keep my heart on what a celebration Christmas really should be.

Our Savior is born!! What great news, and what a celebration we will have!

 

How does your family celebrate?

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