What a Christmas!!!

My apologies for being so absent from the blogging world for a few days, but my oh my was it busy!  It hasn't helped that my hubby is doing much of his studying from home these days so he uses the computer much more than I.  Regardless, I just have to share our Christmas blessings!!!!

Dan and I were literally dreading this Christmas due to our financial situation.  We simply did not know how we were going to do anything.  We both made it a matter of prayer.  We always seek to be cautious to be sure the kids understand what Christmas was truly about.  We were very honest with them for months that they should not expect much materialistically.  The kids handled it all so well, and it was been such a lesson for us all in how commercialized our ideas can be.

We set up the tree, and we did all of our normal holiday traditions.  They are all so much fun.

As December 1st came about, we began to see God do some amazing things in our family!  It really started before that with Abby, our oldest daughter.  She so wanted a pair of boots for her birthday.  She knew that our cash flow was low, and she wanted to use as much of her money as possible.  She was so excited to be just over $50 short.  She didn't want us to just assume the remainder.  She began to pray.  In two days time, she received $45 more for her boots.  What a great lesson in faith for her and all of us!

The first Sunday of December, Dan was greeting folks as they were leaving church.  A couple in our church handed him some cash for our family to have for Christmas.  Another couple came through and gave him a card.  This happened every Sunday throughout December!  We were able to pay some looming bills and buy presents for our kids all without spending any of our money!

Our fear was an empty Christmas tree.  Instead we got some excellent deals, and our kids were so blessed. 

 

It was amazing! What a true lesson that God will always provide.  It was an incredible lesson in giving for our kids to see.  I remember one of my kids asking, "That person really wanted to give us that much money and be happy about it!"  It was truly what Christmas is all about! 

Here are a few pictures of the kids favorite expressions while opening their gifts!

Cast Free!

On Tuesday, we all got a taste of freedom.  Of course for Sarah it was the most rewarding.  For the past four weeks, she has been so limited in her activities, but she has made lemonade of her lemons.  She simply learned to find new ways to do things, and often, we had to limit her resourcefulness!  We were all relieved to finally have simplicity at shower times, and Sarah was super excited to hit the water for swim team practice. 

Needless to say, Sarah was definitely willing to pose for a few pictures!

Christmas Time

We LOVE to decorate for Christmas.  This year has been a new adventure with our cat, Sophie.  We have heard so many stories of cats with trees.  Some are so funny, but all made us a little leery of how Sophie would do.  As we unpacked the tree and began to place the branches this is what we got.

Our tradition is always to decorate the weekend of Thanksgiving.  The kids always remind us.  They love being a part of it.  It is great as they have grown since our tree is quite tall.  They all have a blast attaching the branches and making the tree look beautiful.

 

I always grew up with a real tree.  When Dan and I married, money did not allow for a real tree.  Someone gave us some money to buy a tree.  We were able to buy this artificial blue spruce for $28.  It was on a killer sale at Walmart.  We bought the last one the they had the day before Christmas, but I love it because it really does have a real look to it.  It has lasted us for 13 years!  I dread the day that we will have to retire it.

We really enjoy decorating with our Christmas village, lit garland on the mantle (our bass really loves the highlight colors he gets), and of course the piano top.  I love evenings with it all lit up and glowing.  We just purchased some lit garland for our deck too.  I can’t wait til the hubby gets home to help me string it up.