Sunday, December 13, 2009

Carrie getting the kids ready for their FIRST Christmas and Birthdays!





It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I am a mom who is BIG on tradition. If you ask anyone who has lived
with me, the saying "Let's make a Memory" is all too frequent.
Usually followed by Chris saying, "Can't we just have the memory
before we try to capture it"? As I have cameras going all over the
place. My favorite time of year is Christmas. I love the feeling of
Christmas! We are usually done shopping around October and I can
just enjoy the season. Make cookies, celebrate Advent, have parties,
listen to Christmas cd's that have been packed away all year, the
list goes on.

This year has been tough as I can't be with my entire family. I must
admit that I haven't missed the commercialism of it all, but I sure
do miss the kids. It has been a good reminder of what is important.
Celebrating with those that we love. Over the past couple of days we
have been bringing the kids back to the house to do some celebrating
(we still don't have custody so we have chaperoned visits).
Yesterday we dusted off the Christmas tree and rounded up some
decorations and went for it! The kids had a ball. Now, all the
ornaments are on the bottom half of the tree, which is the opposite
of the tree at home where all the ornaments are on the top half of
the tree since Gracen thinks that they are great toys! Random pieces
of garland here and there and bows haphazardly placed wherever. BUT
it is BEAUTIFUL! For these children it is the first Christmas that
they have ever had and they are loving every minute of it. Today we
make salt dough ornaments and you would have thought that they won
the lottery! Seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child who is
soaking it all in, really reminds you of what it is all about. We
have stockings hung with poster putty, Christmas carols on the
computer and it is one of the most relaxed Christmas' ever!

I can't wait until we are all together. I miss the hot cocoa (even in
Hawaii) and nights by the tree with Chris, I miss our yearly prime
rib dinner on Christmas night and Chinese food on Christmas eve. I
miss celebrating our 7th anniversary with the man who I have loved
since I was 21 (not bad 5 kids in 7 years), I miss seeing the kids
run down the stairs in their Christmas jammies on Christmas morning
and so much more.

BUT through all this I know that we are gaining SO much and it is all
worth it. Seeing my biological children learn to give back and make
a difference in a hurting world, teaching my children that family is
family no matter what color you might be, making a difference in the
lives of children, yet really knowing the life that is really being
touched is mine, NOW that is what Christmas is all about!

PS Mykah's birthday is December 26th and Jackson's is January 1st. I
can't wait to celebrate those with them for the first time. They
didn't even know when they were. My how things have changed in a year!!!!
-Carrie

1 comment:

Autumn said...

Thank you for sharing. We continue to pray for you all. :)