Santa Visit

Today, nothing crazy about this post. Just a little straightforward cheer and joy to you during this holiday season. We've had a great few days of realizing that Christmas is literally around the corner. Wednesday we started Christmas shopping, went to the Macy's holiday display and to see Santa. And that was exactly 2 weeks before Christmas! Since then we've kicked up the shopping a notch (lots online this year), wrapped presents, finished decorating the tree, taken many photos, went to a Happy Birthday Jesus party, and went to the last year of the Holidazzle parade tonight. 

Below, you can see our girl's excitement after she went through the Macy's display, just as we were about to visit Santa. We asked her many times, "Are you going to see Santa? Are you excited?" and she'd respond with a huge grin on her face and wide eyes. I don't know if she totally got it, but she seemed to relish in the excitement nonetheless. This was right before we went in to see him.

At Macy's, Santa sits in a separate room, and he has a great setup with drums, bells, things for the kids to see. The minute we walked in and they shut the door, she wanted to be done! I don't totally blame her - it's a new experience and she didn't remember doing this last year, when she was much more trusting. So - Daddy got to be in the pic with her this year.

More to come on our glorious holiday season. In the meantime, we hope you and your family are experiencing peace, joy and love of all kinds. These past couple of days have not gone by without deep thoughts and prayers for the families of Newtown who have had to endure the one year anniversary since the horrible tragedy. I think of them and pray often for strength and that they feel their angels watching over them always. 

The Santa visit was fun, but it has also been fun to tell Kennedy about the reason for the season. Today at the Happy Birthday Jesus party at our church, she got to do crafts, play with snow indoors, and spend time with other kids playing as they would at a traditional birthday party. Then they watched the Christmas story played out in a nativity scene. And, all of the kids opened a present they brought and laid them in a large cradle for babies in need. I'm realizing how much fun it is to go through the Christmas season from the viewpoint of a child again! --Continue to enjoy the season; it is fleeting!!--