Room for Dessert: About Christmas

Since I posted what I made for Christmas gifts, I had another project with a Christmas deadline: a stocking for Juliet. I had been on the hunt for the perfect stocking but with no luck, surprise, surprise. I did see one that had a great bow, but it was to rustic looking. I gave it a good look-over and thought, "I could make this." Oh, what a dangerous and silly thought. Nothing is as simple as it seems. Other than my issues with beginning a project and never finishing them (if you never finish, you never fail), it was more complicated than I anticipated. Thankfully Mama was on the scene (3 days before Christmas) and some of the skills I learned making the coffee cuffs made the stocking a reality. It didn't turn out quite as planned, but Juliet had a stocking none-the-less. My big plans were to make Justin and I, as well as all subsequent children, these style of stocking...I'll tackle that in my FREE TIME! hahahahahaha.

Christmas in May?! I'm only beating Hobby Lobby by 2 months...

Okay, since we are on Christmas 2009, here are some of my favorite photos. There are a lot more, but I can't load them all! We spent Christmas Day in Georgia with Mama, Daddy, Leigh and many of our aunts, uncles, and cousins on both sides. There were 21 people! A few days later we traveled to Mississippi to celebrate with Justin's family! We had a great Christmas!

At our house...

We put our Christmas tree in the sunroom (it has doors) so we could keep Juliet out and not fight that fight with her.

In Georgia...

Juliet's first Christmas morning & sight of the gifts!

Looking back, Juliet is so little and she wasn't walking then either! She just liked using your finger for balance.

Justin and I started a tradition of giving three gifts like the Magi gave Jesus. We know that Jesus was not born on Christmas Day and some studies (The Star of Bethlehem) find December 25th is the day the Magi arrived to see Jesus, not in a manger, but as a child with his mother in a house. Matthew 2:11.

Anyways, Juliet had three gifts representing gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Gold: a precious treasure in any society, so it's something she really wants (although she didn't express it in words), a ball.

Myrrh: used for medicinal purposes, so something for the body, a monogrammed sweater.

Frankincense: used in worship as incense, so something for spiritual growth, a book about Creation.

Some things were hard to buy for her at this age. It will be more meaningful as she gets older and understands the concept. We are excited about this tradition and helps keep our focus on spiritual matters, rather than just a day to get and give gifts. And it gives us a limit on the number of items to buy. It's hard becuase you think it would be fun for them to have this and this and this!

We also are going to do Santa, but he only brings one gift, which partially answers the question about getting a ton a gifts for millions of children in one sleigh. From Santa she got ABC stacking blocks.