happy christmas.

Merry Christmas friends!

It really is the most wonderful time of the year!  Being with friends and family, carrying out new and old traditions, eating some oh-so-delicious food - that is just the small stuff(!).  Remembering that a baby was born so that we could have free and everlasting life ... now that is something truly wonderful and worth celebrating year after year again.

It was so nice this year as Matt took off the entire week to spend with me and the boys.  I don't think I want this holiday to end!  We went to the zoo, got out to the mountains, visited with loved ones, and just spent time together.  Having these two littles to share the excitement with definitely makes it all the more fun.

Hope you and yours had a merry one too!

pic pix: Christmas cardigans, 25.Dec.2013, at home

itty bit of light.

It's quiet here tonight.  The guys are all sleeping.  It's just me and the twinkle of these little lights.

Somehow, when a room is lit by little lights, it just feels more special.  A little more 'magical'.  How those strands of bulbs can fascinate me so or why(!), I am not to sure.  They bring a room ambiance.  Warmth.  A spark of enlightenment.

Growing up, I'd heard time and time again how I, as a christian, am like a little light that shines ... This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine ... I always imagined a lone candle sitting in a brass holder, bringing light wherever I went.  I knew that I always carried a bit of light with me because Jesus was with me.  Illuminating through me.  I guess that's as far as my imagery went with carrying a "little light".

Lately, for me, it's been a struggle.  Physically - I'm tired.  Emotionally - I'm drained.  Spiritually - I'm thirsty.  I guess with all the new changes around here, I haven't felt like my single candle has done a very good job of staying bright.  It's like, I've viewed my candle as the source of bringing light into any room, circumstance, or relationship.  How I've been wrong ... without even really focusing on it but just accepting a perspective I've derived from imagery in a childhood song!

When my world felt like it was falling apart (hormonally that is, just hours ago), it wasn't my brass candle holder that I turned to for illumination ... it was Father and His word.  Communicating with Him, crying out to Him, acknowledging that I couldn't function alone, and clinging to His promises - it's like I got plugged back into a socket and multiple lights got turned on.  My strand of mini lights.

For everything I was thankful for, it seemed like a bulb lit up.  For the gift of life, here on earth and eternallly, a light was turned on.  For the beauty of my situation, even though I am tired, another light began to shine.  For the burden of my problems that I never had to carry in the first place, another twinkle.

I'm unpacking this idea of letting my light(s) shine wherever I may go and staying plugged into the Source - my God - to illuminate me REGARDLESS of my current state.  Like these small little christmas lights, I too can bring a room ambiance, warmth, and enlightenment.  

So can you.

pic pix: our lit rooms, at home, Dec.2013

{glimpse} our day in pictures.

1. early morning 'bubba' (milk) in front of the Christmas tree

2. a bit of ambiance with our toast and fruit for breakfast.

3. little people.  little games.

4. it's freezing here these days ... lots of layers.

5. advent season.

6. a few minutes during naptime to dibble dabble.

7. frost - one of God's most delicate and perfect creations.

8. my guys.

9. our blurry, attempted family "selfie" before bed.

tree hunting.

We had our family tradition planned for Saturday ... head out of town to chop down our Christmas tree.  Then, croup happened.  Poor Judah was not doing so hot, so we cancelled our plans and opted to just pick one off a lot.  So come Sunday, we packed up our little tribe and found ourselves at the IKEA tree lot.

As a kid, getting the tree was a big deal for me (and probably my siblings too!).  Some years, we didn't get our tree until the week of Christmas...one year, even the day before!  After we would have the tree (however close to Christmas day it was!), my brothers, sister, and I would get up early in the mornings, turn on the Christmas tree lights, and just sit there with something hot to drink, talk, and "enjoy" the tree.  A special tradition that we don't get to do at this point in our lives, but I hang onto it's memory as one of my favorites.  It's funny to me how those little traditions impacted me as a little.  And how now, as a parent, I want those very same things to mean the same to my kids.  

Now, to go and enjoy our little tree ... and finish decorating it!

pic pix: getting our Christmas tree, IKEA Calgary, 01.Dec.2013 *missing: me and Hunter boy - we were actually there!*