I have absolutely LOVED this Christmas season! There have been so many wonderful moments, and I have savored each one. They all go into my memory bank. Here are a few of the highlights of this blessed time in somewhat chronological order:
1) Going to the Nutcracker ballet with Jessi and Emma. We went out to lunch first and then the ballet! It was magical! Watching Emma watch the dancers and seeing her dance in the lobby after the ballet warmed my heart!
2) Going to Anna's Christmas concert and hearing her sing! What beautiful and angelic voices! This set the tone for me for the Christmas season!
3) Going to Seattle and seeing Grandma Elaine in person after her stroke
and singing songs to her including Jesus Loves Me! Making that trip with Amy and Jenna helped me to remember that the Christmas season is about giving and it is about loving family!
4) Having time in Seattle at the hospital to connect with Steve and Joanna and really share our faith! Getting to have quality time with them was a real blessing!
5) Talking to Bazz (Tim's sister) on the phone when she was at the hospital with Mom. I love her so much...always have and always will!
4) Finding special Christmas "buckets" at Safeway and loading them with special presents for my family and delivering them to neighbors! Finding "just the right gift" for people delights me, and then stuffing the buckets with tissue paper and those Christmas goodies is so much FUN! We have a blazing fire in the fireplace, drink hot cider, and listen to Christmas music during this process!
5) Drawing my own Christmas card and personalizing each one with glitter! Having the time to be creative and do art is a gift to my heart!
6) Reading Christmas cards and letters from friends and family and re-connecting with them!
I know some people want to give up the tradition of sending Christmas cards, but it's a ritual that has great meaning for our family!
7) Meeting my goal (plus one) of losing thirty pounds by Christmas! WOW! This was a huge gift to myself and those I love! I came into this Christmas "lighter" in spirit and pounds!
8) Having dinner at Clinkerdaggers with my special friend Sharon Hartnett! (I go every year on a spiritual retreat to Cannon Beach with Sharon) Clinkerdaggers is dressed up for Christmas like no other restaurant I know! Sharon and I split a dinner and had a great time sharing and catching up!
9) Doing special wrappings and decorations on Christmas presents! This year I went wild with glitter, ornaments, bows, and glittery pine cones! My grandpa (My Dad's Dad) once told me that the present really starts with wrapping it in a way that someone gets a visual gift even before they open it! I even made glittery snowflakes on bags at 2am Christmas morning! How fun!
10) Sewing a special Christmas stocking for precious baby Jenna...see picture above! :)
This is a tradition started by my Mom, Nana Dee!
11) Going to the most meaningful Christmas service at our church and really pondering and celebrating what the birth of Jesus really means today! The gospel music rocked my soul and the contemporary Christmas play was amazing!
12) Christmas morning with Jessi, Rog and Emma and seeing Emma's face totally light up with her presents! Finding special ballet goodies for Emma made my day! Boppa also gave Emma some special rocks for her rock collection. These rocks had been collected by Boppa's Daddy! Emma looked at each one and shared about the rocks in her collection! What a special time!
13) Celebrating Christmas with Amy, Ryan, Jacob, Jenna, Zac, and Kayla at the Coeur d'Alene
Resort where we went swimming, hot tubbing, took saunas and some of us had massages! What a treat! We all loved the chance to be together and how fun to not do the cooking or clean up! We all had a mini-vacation! Bert and I had an extra day there so we had some fun couples time too!
14) Having relaxed time to spend with my sweet hubby where we could watch movies, talk, and take walks in the snow! Bert and I LOVE to spend time together. Seeing movies and discussing them is so much fun for us! We still, after all these years, love "date nights"!
15) Seeing the amazing movie Grampa Tim made about Jenna! What a treasure! I've already watched the DVD three times, and I cry each time! What a HUGE amount of love and work went into this gift!
16) Receiving special presents like the family calendar, a "Nana's Brag Book", family photos, and amazing digital photos in a frame that changed and moved! These thoughtful gifts really touched my heart!
17) Knowing in my heart of hearts...that nothing compares to loving Jesus...and that He is the reason for the season! While all of the fun and activities were a blast...even more important to me is keeping my eye on the gift of Jesus during Christmas time!
My prayer is that this has been a time of fun, joy, celebration and gratitude for you as well! Thank you for the gift you are in my life!
God Bless! Love and hugs to all who read this! Love Linda
4 comments:
We had an amazing time with you at the Coeur d' Alene. Thank you for all of your thoughtful gifts. I'm so glad that you are a part of so many of my Christmas memories.
I love you.
Love, me
I'm so happy to hear that you had so much to celebrate this Christmas season! Great post!
I had such a great time with you at Coeur d' Alene with Boppa and you! What a great memory!! I love you all tons!
Christmas morning was really special. What a treasure to get to spend it together. Thanks so much for all the thoughtfulness and generosity that went into each gift! XOXO
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