Christmas has come and gone once again.
This year it was different, though. The last few seasons I've landed on Jan 2 only to breathe a sigh of relief that I made it. I was tense and exhausted. Of course with three little kids with no real schedule for 3 weeks, some days were a struggle, but we tried really hard to not focus on the sibling fighting and normal frustrations and have thankful hearts. (I also kept running and taking my Vitamin B :)
This year we slowed down. We bought fewer presents for us and family, and did it all online. The kids got one Santa gift and then they "bought" a gift for everyone else in our family and got a great stocking.
We did an Advent gift for Jesus every week where we gave him a birthday gift via the "least of these". An inner city ministry, Glimmer of Hope water well... The girls started to enjoy this, a tradition I think we are going to love. Like a Secret Santa :)
My favorite part was doing our nightly Jesse Tree time with the girls. I made the Ann Voskamp devotional into a spiral bound book, glued the paper ornaments onto blocks of wood, painted some sticks white and put it in our entryway. Every night we counted down Christ's coming starting in Genesis, working our way to His birth. The girls really loved our time, we were able to be consistent because we put very little on the calendar.
We went to church in December with my parents, sister and brother in law. Felt right for Christmas.
Andy took Preston to the Fire Department-they rode in the engine, sprayed water everywhere.
We cut down our tree in Elgin with family
We went to dinner with good friends
I took the kids ice-skating
Yes, Lucy is scooping up the dirty ice and licking her hands.
You would NOT have believed Preston. He put on skates and marched out so confident. He LOVED it!!!
We went to Duncanville Christmas day to be with the Schulz family. 7 cousins, 2 more coming! 
All in all it was a great season.
Now we fly in 2011 renewed and expectant that God is going to do great things!!
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