LIQUID CALM

The Wonder of It All

Dear Friends  & family,

The long awaited day is almost here!  Around our house, the anticipation of christmas is so thick and the magic so real that I wish this feeling could last the whole year through.  we talk it, breathe it, sing it, and, very simply, just plain love it.  The wonder of it all has captured the KID'S  little imaginations like nothing else.

All that said, it has been so easy to get so sucked into christmas...the gifts, the lists, the letters, the programs, the decorations...that I have to stop and remember who all this is truly for.  My wish this christmas is to anticipate Christ just as we have anticipated christmas.  I want to talk Christ, breathe Christ, sing Christ and, very simply, just plain love Christ.  I want the wonder of him to capture my heart like nothing else comes close to doing. 

We pray that your family can set apart Christ as king in your lives this christmas season and the whole year through:  Talk about that first christmas night, breathe      in his grace, sing praises to him and, very simply, just plain love him.  He is the reason for the season ; the one and only reason.

Merry christmas,

The smith's 2011

  

Treasuring It Up - Day 8

My 2011 Christmas Treasures

Day 8: The Toddler Proof Tree

No, you are not in a museum...it's hardly that.  Instead, you are looking at our family Christmas tree encased inside a metal baby superyard.   As unappealing as this massive barrier is, it is absolutley necessary if we'd like to box up our ornaments in one piece at the end of the season.  Yeah, I know it's boring and we could put the ornaments 3 foot up.  But, that wouldn't stop my little ones from just pulling up a chair.  So, for now, the superyard does the trick.  The tree can still be admired by little eyes; just not touched by little hands.  And, it's a constant reminder that precious little souls live here and that's just the way we like it :)

Treasuring It Up - Day 7

My 2011 Christmas Treasures

Day 7:  Christmas luncheon with the Women's Ministry team -- a group of the most wise, wildest about Jesus, women I know.  For eight years I have sat at their feet, gleaning every nugget of wisdom I can from them.  So many times I have felt terribly unworthy of being amongst these ladies.  But, God has continued to appoint me to this ministry that I love so much.  Our dinner question, "Why Do You Love Jesus?," and the ten different reasons that were shared reflect how all our hearts beat for the same reason...to tell just why and how much we love Him and, even better, to help you discover the mad, passionate love He has for YOU.

Regrettably, I did not take a picture of these ladies all polished in our Christmas best.  But, I have the next best thing:

{See, I told you they were wild!}

I Bet You Didn't Know That

Did you know?

There were actually only 2 wisemen

and

the donkey and cattle had no hay to eat

and

there was a werewolf among them


the night when Jesus was born?

I bet you didn't know that.

Once again, life with toddlers, even at Christmastime, is always interesting.  I'm not sure which little one felt the need to include the werewolf but I think he makes a nice addition to the nativity. 

As for the third wiseman, the hay and the camel?  I'm sure I'll find them sometime this spring when I least expect it.

Treasuring It Up - Day 6

My 2011 Christmas Treasures

Day 6:  My Little Ballerina

Treasuring It Up - Days 1 thru 5

"Mary kept all these things to herself,
holding them dear, deep within herself." 

Luke 2:19  (The Message)

My 2011 Christmas Treasures:

Day 1:  Having the entire inside and outside of the house already decorated since before Thanksgiving.  We have never been this on top of it before and it is so relaxing; like we get to squeeze every drop out of Christmas this year.

Day 2:  Lots to treasure up today...Eli's face when I showed him the Grinch shirt that I had bought for him.  Singing and dancing with Micah and Eli to the entire Chipmunks Christmas CD.  Micah is CRAZY about those furry guys!  And, snuggling up on the couch with the kids and watching Charlie Brown's "Happiness is a Warm Blanket" together.

Day 3:  After reading the nativity story, Jacob asked me, "So, how did they get babies out when Jesus was born anyway?  Back then, they couldn't cut open the mommy's belly like they did yours.  So, just how did they get Jesus out??"  Ummm..... 

Day 4:  Seeing Jacob up on stage, in his wheelchair, singing his little heart out in his children's Christmas program at church.  That was the ONE thing he said he really wanted to do before he even had surgery.  We promised him he would, although we did not know whether or not he'd feel up to the spotlight when the time came.  But, he sat up there, unashamed of his wheels, and we were so proud of him for it.

Day 5:  Receiving our first Christmas cards in the mail.  I heart Christmas cards so much!  My daily December trip to the mailbox is perhaps one of my favorite holiday activities.