Christmas 2014

There are just so many good things about living in a house instead of an apartment that it is hard to enumerate them all upon command.  We stumbled into another one this month, however: The ability to put up all of our Christmas decorations, including our full-size tree.

Here are some other photos of decorations that we put up this year.  Some of which we were able to do in past years and others not (due to the confined space).

We actually have a fireplace with a MANTLE that we can put decorations on, and so our nativity went there this year.  Did we mention we LOVE living in a house?

We discovered, though, that with the nativity in this location, at about 9:30 AM every morning, the light shines just perfectly through the window so that it can illuminate the baby Jesus.  The following is a close-up picture, but the light exposure was not right to catch the awesome light display.

And now, the obligatory kids gift pictures...

For Jacob, a Minecraft shirt (so he is now Powered by Redstone), a series of Minecraft "manuals", a Captain Underpants book, a telescope, some space-themed wall hangings for his room, a nerf gun, and a set of head lamps for those nighttime exploring expeditions.

For Meagan, the latest Rick Riordan book, a microscope, a shirt, a dress, some nail polish, a trading card game, and a quilt (made by Grandma Walles)

This Christmas has been one of focusing on others.  We went to Tent City here in Lubbock to help other members in our ward feed the homeless and it was a fantastic opportunity to teach about service and the true meaning of Christmas with Matthew 25 as a text.  We were able to pass on the tradition of the 12 days of Christmas that we were introduced to last year to another family.  We went caroling with our Bishop and his family (in the rain no less) to bring some Christmas cheer to some of the members in our congregation.  We have read Christmas stories, spent more time together as a family, and in general focused (as much as possible) less on material gifts and more on things that actually matter.  As a result, the feeling in our home this Christmas has been one of more peace, more love, and closer to our Savior than in past Christmases.  I think, that this is going to be a goal for us for next year to try and repeat and improve upon.  I am grateful that we had the experiences we did and that we could share them with our children.  Hopefully, like Dickens said of Scrooge, we can learn to keep Christmas throughout all the year.

- Josh