Christmas Wrap Up

This was the first Christmas where we were all officially part of the Thompson family.  It was full of memories and blessed moments.

Making gingerbread houses.

They were fun, but doesn't look super great : )

 My cute babies!

 Here is a picture of our house Christmas morning.

 Stockings.

 Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Our cup overruns.

 The cousins at Nana and Papaw's.

 My family.

Scott's family. 

 1st Christmas is hard on Liv!

Cousins cutie pa tootie picture!

Hope your holidays were full of family joy and most of all the hope that a tiny baby in a manger brings to this world.

HE CAME.

All today and the day before I've been thinking about one thing...HE CAME.  I love all this Christmas stuff. Seeing my kids excited.  Being with family.  Eating lots of yumminess.  Enjoying old traditions and creating new ones.  But all of that is pale in comparison to the most exciting thing to ever happen to my life (and believe me....yours too).... HE CAME.

Long ago, after 400 years of silence from God...the Israelites finally received the hope they'd been waiting for. It wasn't how they had expected and sadly, many of them flat out missed it.  But a poor, young girl set out to serve her God, gave birth to God's Son.  Jesus Christ came.  He came. We do not have a God that is far away or unconcerned with us.  We have a God that came to earth to be here and change eternity forever.  Thanking God for this truth...more than any gift I've been given, all the blessed family times and even more than my amazing husband and children.

Praying you and yours experience this joy today and always.

Merriest Christmas from the Thompson Family!

btw, this is the front/back of our card that went out Christmas Eve. 

Just keeping it real! : )

Flying....

Thinking today as we rush through a bunch of holiday affairs, just how quickly this life can really be.  It feels like yesterday that I was sleepily emerging to the living room on Christmas morning to enjoy another magical day.  My sister and I ran into each other last night doing some last minute shopping.  This almost never happens. For one reason, we almost always know where the other is...so accidentally running into each other can't happen. It was weird, you know.  Someone you grow up with and rarely spend even a night apart suddenly is someone (though still close) who lives in a separate house and has a life of their own.  How can this be?  Shouldn't we still be playing dolls in the basement or at least be on our way to cheer practice?  And if not those, there is no way that we should be doing anything else than wrapping up finals and heading home from Western for Christmas break.  Where did our youth go?

Forget my youth.  What about my own family.  When did this happen? My sweet fresh groom and I should be still celebrating our first Christmas together.  Reminiscing over our honeymoon pictures, enjoying long dates out and for goodness sakes...sleeping in on Saturday mornings.  But no.  That was us only for a year.  Then the next we were busy with plans of adopting and still trying to have a baby.  Then our first two babies came.  Trying to remember that first Christmas is tough.  Sadly, most of it is tainted with my back problems to shortly follow, back surgery.  I do remember their smiling faces Christmas morning.  I can still see my little man's face with icing all over it from Christmas cookies. And watch little Evy toddle across the room every five minutes to touch the tree.  And here we are back again at the same stage with our tiniest blessing.  She is ten months old today.  INSANE.  This year has been exceptionally fast.  I get all teary thinking of how tiny she was and how quickly they've all grown.

So today, I'm going to stop rushing around and just enjoy them as much as I can.  For I know, next year  at this time..I'll be just as surprised by how much they've grown again.  Oh Lord, can't we slow down this time for just a little bit.  There is so much you've given us to enjoy.  I don't want to miss one moment.

this to this too quickly

Don't forget to take some time to SLOW DOWN this holiday season and enjoy those around you.

Memories Made.

I cannot remember the exact moment that Christmas became such a special event in my life.  I do however remember all the small memories that made it that way.

I can see clearly the Charlie Brown lights lined across the roof of my childhood home.  Wiping the frosty fog off the window so my sister and I could get a better glance.  It didn't matter how carefully we added the sparkly ice cycles to our family tree, we'd find silver shreds strewn across the house for weeks and weeks. Funny things  still pepper through my thoughts like wearing the Christmas tree costume my Moma made me for the school play. Or the silly stories that our Daddy would tell us about when he was a little boy at Christmas time. I remember thinking that it was nutty how excited him and his brothers got over oranges in their stockings. I can still hear the hymns being sung by candlelight as we joined our Nanny's church for their Christmas Eve service.  I love how songs or movies can take you back to certain moments.  Mine would definitely be Mariah Carey's All I want for Christmas Is You and it takes me back to wrapping presents on our pool table in the basement.  The cold floor beneath my socks, the radio turned up on high and trying to wrap quickly before someone in the family saw their gifts I purchased at the Santa's Workshop store at school.  Piling up on the couch under covers to watch White Christmas, On Moonlight Bay, and one of my favorites A Mom for Christmas *it's the one where Olivia Newton John is a mannequin and comes alive for Christmas. Family gatherings are always a good treasure to think back on.  Laughter, following around (and most likely annoying) the older cousins, singing hymns as Johnah tinkered out the tune on the piano, and enjoying all the decadent treats which includes my Mom's cranberry-apple Hot Punch. Of course, I still get giddy thinking of waking up on the 25th at 5 a.m. and running into the living room to see the toys I'd longed for loving placed across the hearth. As I got older I loved going one by one through the cards stored in the little Santa card holder.  Actually, I still love to do this as I now own this after my mother got rid of it.  I also still enjoy Daddy reading the story of the birth of Christ every Christmas day.

aren't we cute?!?!?!

It's funny how you look back on moments and think that your children must have the same exact experiences to have the magic you once had.  It's just not true.  We love and cherish certain holidays or traditions because they were OURS.  They are special memories because of the effort our parents took to make them and mostly because of the love they represent. During this season where it's become ok to place "have to do" labels on everyone or we feel guilty over not joining some holiday fad, remember it's something else that makes our kids have magical childhoods.  It's us taking the time to stop and spend time doing something with them and making even the smallest things seem special.  So stop harassing others and loosing sleep over missing out on what everyone else deems important.  My kids will most likely have different favorite memories than I did growing up, but theirs will be just as sweet as mine. Now go ENJOY and CELEBRATE this season!

some cool things we've done lately....

A few weeks ago, MentorKids went to deliver Christmas cards and sing Christmas Karaoke with the residents of the Wendell Foster Campus. It is a home for many people with disabilities (many who have cerebral palsey). I was so sure most our kids would be super quiet and quite uncomfortable. Boy, was I ever wrong. I knew they would be polite, but I never imagined their responses.

They enjoyed the residents and even initiated conversations with them.

The residents just loved our kids. It was a precious thing to be a part of. We had many kids ask their mentor to bring them back and then one to even say she might like to work in a place like this one day.

It was a highlight of this years holiday season!

NEXT.... our church started this program last year to teach kids the giving part of the season. And why we give, because He first gave to us.

It's called the Magi Project.

It is where kids come to shop for 4 people in their lives. It's free and we even help them wrap their gifts. The whole time they are at the church, the "wise men" walk around telling them about the King who was born, how they are looking for him, and have gifts to bare.

At the end of the shopping/wrapping route of the event, they come outside and stop by the stable. Their were live animals there they could pet.

There were sheep.

goats.

there was even a donkey named dixie.

then there were the wise men bringing their gifts.

and of course, there was a mary, joseph, and a baby Jesus.

Do these Mary and Joseph look familiar. Yep, we were voted to play the roles for the children this year. We had a blast doing it. The kids loved to hear us tell them why we REALLY celebrate Christmas and how Jesus was the first Christmas present.

The animals were just soo stinkin cute. This sheep looked like he was smiling at me.

I wanted to sheer these sheep and use their wool to make yarn for sweaters/scarves/hats.

They looked soo warm.

I thought maybe these kids wouldn't take this serious or would even go home to keep the gifts for themselves. That couldn't have been further for the truth. They looked long and hard for the right presents and wrapped them with care.

I can say I truly enjoyed being Mary. It was such a neat experience to celebrate Christmas.

This precious girl wanted to hold baby Jesus.

I thought it was cool to see these kids have the same excitement to see the Nativity scene as they have when they are in line to see Santa.

I hope they experienced a different and more giving Christmas this year.

our niece and nephew came by to pet the animals and see the Nativity as well.

they loved it.

Our pastor has been preaching a series on the Magi and a different take on Christmas. Last week he was talking about how kids mainly experience the "getting" part of Christmas. He inquired us all what we asked children usually during the holiday season. "What are you getting/asking for Christmas?" or "What did you get for Christmas?"

So I've made a point to change not only what I ask children, but try to refocus my perspective around the holidays to be mainly on giving.

So needless to say, the Magi Project not only (hopefully) impacted the kids in our neighborhood, but this Mary as well.

The End

(sorry, i couldn't resist)

God is not dead, nor doth He sleep.

Uh....excuse me, but is this really all the snow we are going to see?

This is what we got last week...the only real snow so far.

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas!

Speaking of Christmas carols/hymns like White Christmas. I think I've found my new favorite. We sang it at church last week and I cannot get the line "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep." out of my head. This man wrote this during the Civil War, the loss of his wife, and the injury of his son. He saw horrible things and felt grief like many...but he still clasped tightly to the truth that God is faithful...He isn't dead and He's not sleeping. He's here for us. This stanza is by far my favorite.

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep;
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With Peace on earth, good will to men."

Below is the history of the carol and the entire lyrics.

Enjoy

and

peace on earth

goodwill to men.

Henry W. Longfellow wrote the lyrics of 'I heard the bells on Christmas Day' and it was first published in 1864. John B. Calkin composed its music in 1872 though it is also sung to an alternate tune that was originally composed by Joseph Mainzer in 1845. This hymn is full of despair as it was written during the stressful times of American civil war. One can sense it clearly in the next to last stanza. Stanzas 4 and 5 mention the battle times and are hence, often omitted from hymnals.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play.
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how as the day had come
The belfries of all Christendom
Had roll'd along th' unbroken song
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair, I bow'd my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song,
Of Peace on earth, good will to men."

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearthstones of a continent,
And made forlorn, the households born
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep;
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With Peace on earth, good will to men."

O Christmas Tree....

When I was young, my family would pile into the truck and drive up into the woods. We would skip in the crisp, cool air looking for the perfect tree. Daddy would cut it down and then my parents would argue whether it would fit in the house. Daddy would say it's fine and they'd get it into the house where the top would be bent over because the tree was too tall. Moma would make Daddy take back outside to trim it more. After trimming, he'd bring it back in where she would say the tree was now just a smidge short. HAHA...just thinking about this makes me crack up. We would just giggle and laugh at them! Our house smelled delicious with scents of pine and Christmas all through the season. Well, as an adult, I just really don't want to mess with the mess (of needles, watering it, and such). But my in-loves (in-laws) get their tree with the bulb to plant on their property after Christmas. So I went this year to go along to the get the tree.

My niece's joy was everything I remembered as a child around Christmas.

They hunted and hunted.

The colors were gorgeous.

They ran up and down the path, in and out of all the trees.

They finally found the one! (My lovely in-loves)

At Hill Top..they also make wreaths. The cutest little workshop ever.

Everthing there brought out the season's fun.

They even had popcorn. J loved it!

K loved it too!

Mittened hand in Granny's.

Heavy tree...I wasn't sure they were going to get it into the truck!

Cute sign.

Happy and Warm in the truck with Grandaddy and Granny's tree in the back.

makes me nostalgic.