Ben’s first Christmas this year!  Wow was that AWESOME for me!!!  What a GIFT!!!!  I couldn’t help but sit and stare at him and think of what Mary must have been thinking when she gave birth to baby Jesus and knowing that He would be the Saviour of the world!  What a precious baby and an AMAZING thing!  I’m so thankful for the birth of Jesus and the birth of my own son Ben.  I pray that I will be the mother that can raise him to KNOW the baby Jesus who grew up into a man to die for the sins of this world.

I can look around and see how quickly many people (including myself at times) get so sucked into the rush and the fuss of the season, that we really don’t take the time to truly be thankful for what happened and enjoy the special time with family.

Christmas Eve was so much fun spending time with family and playing games, also spending the night with at my parents house and waking up really early to open gifts.

It’s so hard because I LOVE making a big deal about giving gifts and the FUN of Christmas, but I want sooo badly to keep the right perspective for my children.  I’m so very thrilled about starting my very own family traditions as well.  All growing up, every Christmas Eve my parents would give us kids new pjs to wear for Christmas morning.  It was always a lot of fun, but I think I really want my tradition to be a new book for the kids every year….I’ve been buying a book for Sean every year for a while, and I think it’d be really cool to continue in a very special way…include a note to them and something special that way.

Anyway, I just had to share a little bit about the first Christmas, I want to spend so much more time writing and reading.  I’m really praying I can get into a schedule better, yet it hasn’t been bad for just starting.