holiday cheer

Where has the time gone? If you find it, please let me know. I've been looking everywhere for it!

This past month has been a whirlwind of celebrating, preparing to celebrate and delighting in the magic of the season through the sparkling little eyes of a 2 year old. Nothing filled my heart with Christmas cheer more than every time I drove my car after dark and listened to the screams of delight from the backseat as we passed by houses decorated with lights."CHRISTMAS!!," she screamed.  It made me laugh every single time she saw "Santa Claus" and called him Noah (because she loves the story of "Noah and the Ark" and Noah has a long white beard in the pictures, so this long, white bearded man must certainly be him!). I loved the holiday baking (but felt bad feeding people such unhealthy food!), the shopping ($100 goes a long way if you get creative!), the music (with the exception of a few songs...don't get me started!), the decorations (I'm a kid at heart too, I guess!) and the warmer weather (I'm probably in the minority here, most of you dream of a white Christmas).

Never mind that most of those days have been some of the most physically challenging for me. God's timing is perfect. In the midst of my worst of days was the joy of Jesus birth and the wide-eyed wonderment of my precious little girl. And, as if these blessings weren't enough, God gave me the gift of a tender, patient husband, a mom and dad who give selflessly of themselves to help me, and the opportunity to spend some sweet time with my sister and her family who drove up from Arkansas to celebrate Christmas with us.

"Joy to the world, the Lord has come!"