MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

OK, so sorry, but there's not going to be any pictures on this post, since my back is hurting, and not only do I need to clean the kitchen and put away food from dinner, but would like to go spend some time with my hubby. So I'm just posting a quick note to say MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! Hope everyone had a great day, and joyous blessings from the birthday boy, Jesus! I feel so absolutely blessed to be where we are and for our (growing) family! We missed spending the day with our families in Kingwood today, but really enjoy our time together as a family...and AJ didn't get alerted or anything! YAY! We also invited over another couple who are just moving here and don't know anyone and couldn't get Christmas leave to go see their families. It's nice, being able to be each other's "families"...that's the way it should work in the military, or really anytime you're away from home and need someone to share a fun day with.

I just wanted to leave you with an example of how our little 2-yr.-old is such a reflection of God's love and blessings on us. Last night we let Josh open a present. This is a family tradition in my family, although ours was usually Christmas pj's. I found this book in Barnes and Noble last week and had to get it. It's a board book about the Nativity story, but this one starts out asking the child if he knows why we give presents at Christmas. It explains that it is because it's Jesus' birthday and then tells the Christmas story in simple terms appropriate for a toddler. It then ends up by reiterating the reason we give/get presents at Christmas. Well, anyway, apart from this being a neat book, here's the actual anecdote. Josh ripped off the paper and was looking at the book and opened it to the last page to a picture of the nativity. He immediately, with no prompting, pointed to the baby and said "Baby Jesus." I was so proud of our little boy, and felt so happy and excited that what he saw first wasn't the presents on some of the pages, or anything, but went straight for the reason for this day: Baby Jesus. It kind of amazed me, although I'm not sure why...we've been trying to talk about Baby Jesus lately and explain the story and show him pictures and figurines of the nativity...but it was so sweet, and just melted my heart! Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you...sorry if it was long-winded...I tend to get a little carried away when talking about my boys!

OK, well, once again, Merry Christmas, and may Christ bless you today!

Pictures to follow...b/c once again, I'm waaaaay behind!