Christmas 2021

We had the sweetest 2021 Christmas season! We started it early, when we decked our halls right after Halloween, and before Thanksgiving we had started drinking hot chocolate and watching Christmas movies...

...I had finished a Christmas puzzle...

...and we had visited the Galaxy of Lights with family. 

We watched our angel and cow in the Twickenham Christmas program...

...decorated a gingerbread house...

...and made lots of cookies and treats. We went door to door through our cul-de-sac dropping off cookie boxes, and the kids were beaming! I was so proud watching them ring the doorbells and tell our neighbors "Merry Christmas". 

Of course our Christmas fun included lots of lights! We visited the Tinsel Trail with cousins...

 

...and drove around many nights and saw lights all over town.

 

We planned a special night to see the lights at Noccalula Falls state park in Gadsden and I hope it will become a yearly tradition! We had so much fun riding the train, exploring the park, looking at the live animals they had, and seeing literally millions of lights. It was absolutely beautiful, albeit cold (it was 37 degrees when we left!)

 

 

Caleb and I know we're grown ups when we look forward to watching "It's A Wonderful Life" more than any other movie. Ha! But there isn't a cozier sight! 

We attended Rivertree's Christmas Eve Eve service and then had both sides of our family over for a party. We had tons of delicious food and we played games. It was such a joyous occasion! 

We celebrated Christmas with Nana and Derek on Christmas Eve and got so many wonderful gifts and enjoyed a delicious meal. It was a special night and we left happy and excited for the next day! 

Stockings stuffed and gifts laid out! 

Happy babies on Christmas morning!  

Before opening presents... 

 

...and after! 

 

We spent all morning in our pajamas, playing with new toys, reading new books, and relaxing, then after nap time we went to my parent's house. This is the only picture I took all night, after all of the gifts were open and the kids had gone outside (in the dark) to run around like hooligans with their new walkie talkies. 😂 We had our traditional Five Guys meal and sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. It was a wonderful night together! 

It was SUCH a wonderful few weeks! We packed in lots of activities and fun, but it also felt less rushed and busy than years past, for which I am glad. We tried to be intentional about telling the children about Jesus and explaining what it means that God entered the world as a helpless baby, born to die that we might know Him. And that as all of creation longed for the coming of a Savior, so we long for His second coming. These are such lofty things, but we pray and believe we are planting seeds that will grow and bear fruit in time. I asked Henry before bed on Christmas night if his day would have still been good even without all of the presents and toys and he said "Well yeah, because we still would get to celebrate Jesus' birth." Amen and Hallelujah!