SCENES FROM CHRISTMAS 2015

This Christmas was a sweet one. Lots of hand made gifts and crafts!

The best part is always the time together, with no where particular to be, and we can just take it easy. I suppose that's really what holidays are for....days filled with eating good food, hanging out in pajamas if you want, and maybe watching a good movie or two. And that's just what we did.

I got a few Christmas photos of just the girls!...so many silly ones.

And a few sweet ones.

And as we make many new memories and traditions, there are many things that remind us of how far we have come. This old Christmas tree represents a lot more than just a holiday decoration. At one point in our marriage we lived in a tiny one bedroom basement apartment (all of about 400 sq ft). We only had Sterling at the time and I was pregnant with Elle. That year we were so low financially we couldn't even afford a Christmas tree (crazy but true), and even if we could our apartment was so tiny we wouldn't have really had room for a normal size one anyway. Someone had an extra one of these miniature imitation ones and gave it to us that year, and this was our Christmas tree. We have moved several times over the past years but this has traveled along with us through every move. It is now the tradition that it goes in the girls room as their own personal Christmas tree. And every year when we bring it out I tell the girls the story of our tiny home with our tiny tree, how far we have come as a family, and all that God has done for us. It's quite amazing now to think back on all of the ups and downs, crazy stories of giving and receiving, and God's constant provision. Our life has not slowed down, nor has it become problem free....but these little reminders of God's faithfulness are precious memories to help us speak of what we know of Him today. He is faithful. We are thankful. He is ultimately the reason we celebrate!

Christmas 2015