First Christmas!

Hi,

It has been almost a month since I wrote to you and it is shameful. Especially such a special month when writing to you on your blog sat un -crossed off on my to do list and on my mind so many times. There is so much to update you on-- let's start with Christmas.

Your first Christmas was in Arizona driving back and forth between grandparents in the valley of the sun. Everywhere you went you were adored and cuddled in your red and green jammie sets and smiles. You were happy and sweet all day long. Your nights while in Arizona completely stunk- you got me up at night alot with crying and fussing. I also had a head cold so we both seemed to be bothered by the dry air- I don't know how it will affect you when we live there someday.

You got several presents and we all enjoyed putting you up to the wrapped boxes and watching you look around like " what am I supposed to do here?" You got a bouncy thing that you stand in-- very entertaining. You got a train that you sit on and scoot your legs-- not there quite yet. You got some funny t-shirts and a thing from my parents that has buttons and lights galore-- the songs it sings have really gotten old these past two weeks...

The pictures of your first Christmas show you sitting in a laundry basket looking at Grammy and a white tree, in a caravan of animals with your cousins, and snuggling with lots of different people. It was great.

So-- the mum lesson for Christmas that I need to remember and you can tell me when you read this whether we were successful- Christmas is about Jesus--- it is about the amazing gift of God's love coming to earth in the form of a baby-- the actual baby part not so amazing to me until this year-- someone's baby Jack was actually God. Pretty amazing. We want you to have Christmases filled with traditions also. We are still forming opinions about what those should be in order to help you know what Christmas is about. Reading the story of the first Christmas, birthday cake for Jesus, only a couple of presents and of course-- a family poker game. Not sure where the poker fits in but we have been doing that for several years now and we can't just get rid of it. Except for we need to figure out how to beat your uncle Jeff-- he has three years in a row now.

So, the mum lesson is-- I cannot get carried away with the buy buy buy mentality of the world at the time of year that is supposed to be about the light of Jesus being born to show us love and give us the greatest gift ever. Someday soon-- you will want many more presents than I intend to give you. I hope God gives me wisdom of how to deal with that. I hope your dad and grandparents back me up and don't spoil you-- making me look like the bad guy.

Your first Christmas was great!