Happy New Year!

Wow. What a fun Christmas we had this year...I'm not sure where to begin. We have a lot of traditions in our family, and still some in the making. I'll share a few and maybe that will paint a good picture of what our December was like this year.

1. Decorating the tree (and the house): We had a great day decorating the tree this year. Last Christmas, the waiting Mommies in my swap group sent each other Christmas ornaments related to China. We also bought a great Panda ornament when we were in China. It was fun to watch all the kids, including Leila, sort through all the ornaments to find the ones that 'belong' to them. I'm so thankful that someone (not me) had the foresight to swap ornaments so that Leila would already have a collection this year. As in so many situations, it feels like she has just always been here!

2. Christmas Books/Advent Calendar: My friend Lisa E. told me about this tradition several years ago, and we adopted it right away. At the end of November, I wrap 24 Christmas books. Most are old favorites, some from my childhood. Each year, I add 1-2 new ones as well. Each night, starting December 1st, one of the kids (oh yes, there IS a specific order...) unwraps the Christmas book and either reads it to all of us, or gives Mom or Dad the honors. We save 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' until Dec 24th---it's only right! The kids love it and after we read the book, they open their 'box' on the Playmobile advent calendar. We've had the same set for a few years now, but they act surprised each time they open the box. I know this entire tradition isn't very Christ-focused---something we desire for the Christmas season. However, it is at least 15 minutes each day where all 6 of us can sit together, and that is also something we desire.
3. Christmas program and Visiting Santa: Rudy and Leila had a great Christmas program at their preschool in mid-December. Both of them did a great job singing up on that stage. Leila was shy until she spotted me in the audience. Then she shouted 'I see my MOMMY' about 10 times loud enough so that even the people in the very back of the church could hear. I pretended to be properly embarrassed by the enthusiastic shout out, but what I really wanted to do was stand up and shout 'That's RIGHT I'm her Mommy!' You'll be glad to know, I restrained myself.
After the program, Caeden, Rudy, and Leila chatted with Santa. Leila preferred to chat from afar.


4. Watching "Elf": We always watch Elf, but this year was the best. Apparently our Uncle Wade fell off the face of the Earth for a few years and had never seen Elf. I really do not understand it, but instead of giving him too much grief, we hosted an Elf Premier Night, complete with popcorn, candy, and family time with the Thursday Crew (Uncle Wade, Aunt Megan, Uncle Gregg, and the Potocnik 6). It was awesome. Made me smile. I like smiling, smiling's my favorite. Alright, moving on...
5. Spending time with family: It doesn't get any better than this. My sister who lives in Washington D.C. and her friend Catharine came to visit us the week before Christmas. Karen and Catharine have started a company called Keen Guides. You can learn more by clicking here, and then you might just be as proud of my amazing sister as I am. And as much as I love my sister and her friend, I was just a tiny bit more excited to see my sweet niece Ady. The kids loved doting on their one and only cousin, and Auntie LuLu (that's me) could have kissed those cheeks for another week. I also marveled at the sheer coincidence that 3 cousins (Ady, Maddie, and Leila) could have a "Strong Willed Girl" contest, and a tie would be declared. Or maybe Ady would win. Either way, we had so much fun just hanging out and being together---I didn't want those couple days to end.

6. Christmas PJ's!: I know, it's ridiculous. But seriously---LOOK how cute those footed pajamas still are. I let Madison and Caeden digress a little, but this might just be my favorite picture in a long time.
7. Going Home: We spent Dec 24-26 in Chanute, KS with Jason's family. For two years, Jason's sister Megan was a missionary in the Republic of Georgia, which unfortunately meant that she was physically absent from our Christmas celebrations the last two Decembers. Needless to say, having Megan, her new husband Wade, and Leila Grace finally home was cause for much celebration. I think all of us were just happy to be together---finally 'complete.' We then spent Dec 27-29 in Lincoln with my family, which was again just a great time of hanging out. My parents have wild turkeys that like to visit their backyard once a week or so. We've only seen them in pictures, but they graced us with their presence our first day there---I think we counted 22!


To sum up our trip to Lincoln: My mom's fried chicken...card games...happy kids...the Wii...Scrabble... a visit with my high school girlfriends...my entire family together...what a great end to a great year.

8. Music and Christmas Carols: I love it when it's time to break out the Christmas music. Traditionally, we start playing it on the drive home from wherever we are at Thanksgiving. But with Thanksgiving so late this year, we started early. I bought the new Travis Cottrell Christmas CD (Ring the Bells), which was great. I also had 2-3 others hidden in my car, but for the life of me could NOT find my big case of Christmas music. So---we settled for the radio instead. After about 3 days of 'I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas' ringing in my ears, I was even more bound and determined to find those CD's. While looking, I could hear Jason start HIS tradition of practicing Christmas carols on the guitar. Many people don't know that J is a very talented guitar player, and even writes a lot of his own praise/worship music. As I stood in the kitchen and listened to him play and sing, I decided the Christmas CD tradition would have to wait---my sweet husband's voice earnestly praising God with those carols was literally music to my ears!

With the addition of Leila Grace this year, our family will never be the same. She is sheer JOY, and listening to her sing the line of 'We Three Kings' that says:

Star of Wonder

Star of Light

Star of Royal Beauty Bright

was enough to bring me to my knees in thanksgiving. Thanks be to God, who brought Leila to us. Thanks be to God, who always finishes what He starts. Thanks be to God for His Son 2000 years ago. Thanks be to God, whose love endures forever. Daily circumstances, families, finances, homes, jobs....even time honored traditions will change. But His LOVE endures forever.

Happy New Year, everyone.