Christmas!

I know most people have already posted their Christmas recaps but I'm just a little late. =) To be honest, I don't really have many photos to post from our Christmas. Yet again I was too busy enjoying myself to be interested in taking pictures. Though I will say, my iPhone makes it quite a lot more convenient!

We had a GREAT day. Collin and I woke up and exchanged gifts between the two of us and then we opened presents with his parents and sister and nephew who were in town visiting. Then we headed over to my parent's house after breakfast for more presents and lunch. We were so spoiled with gifts. Some highlights for me include a pink, fur-hooded vest, some new books, Little Big Planet 2, an awesome bowl set (yellow and white - some with polka dots and some with stripes), lots of clothes, and nail polish! Some highlights for Collin include frisbee golf discs, a frisbee golf disc bag, Metal Gear Solid HD, and Uncharted 3. And I think the best gift for him was the BT box set. I had mentioned it to my mom around Thanksgiving and she got it for him and he was so surprised and excited!!



Unwrapping the present but he has no idea what it is...

Seeing the BT logo but still not knowing what it is.

Trying to figure it out.

Finally realizing what it is.

Looking at the poster of the album art.

Inspecting the book that came with it.

I think I was more excited about him getting this gift than I was about anything. It was something that I knew he wanted but we couldn't afford and he would never ask for because of its price. So I knew it would be a total surprise and an awesome gift!

Anyway... I also want to share with you some other photos taken on Christmas.



Our mini tree with the presents under it.




The rest of the decorations I put up.

Collin and I sitting on the couch at my parents before opening presents with my sister, Kaity, and her husband, Tim.

Sweet Jake fell asleep after we were all done opening presents.


Collin and I with our buddies at my parent's house.







So yes, as you can see, we had a good Christmas! I hope yours was as delightful and full of family as ours was. And I hope that you made out well in the gifts department. But I hope most of all that you kept in mind the true reason that we got to celebrate. The birth of a sweet little baby who saved the world!

Cindy

(Semi) Wordless Wednesday

Yesterday was so dreary and gross. It rained during the day, the whole time. And it was WINDY. Oh so very windy. The rain ended in the evening and once the wind died down when the storm system passed it was actually relatively nice out. But when I took this picture on my way home from work all I wanted to do was curl up on the couch under a blanket and snuggle with Collin.

Cindy

The Greatest Gift of All

Found here

I posted this on Christmas Eve last year but I really want to post it again.  I hope it can bring some hope to your day today!

Christmas is so much more than presents and decorations and a tree.  All of that is symbolism.  A symbolism for love.  And the greatest gift ever given!  It all started around 2000 years ago...

Luke 2 (NLT)


(Joseph was on his way to Bethlehem for a census decreed by Caesar) 5 He took with him Mary, his fianc'e, who was obviously pregnant by this time. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the village inn. 8 That night some shepherds were in the fields outside the village, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them. They were terribly frightened, 10 but the angel reassured them. "Don't be afraid!" he said. "I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! 11 The Savior -- yes, the Messiah, the Lord -- has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!" 13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others -- the armies of heaven -- praising God: 14 "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to all whom God favors. " 15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, "Come on, let's go to Bethlehem! Let's see this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." 16 They ran to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 Then the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds' story were astonished, 19 but Mary quietly treasured these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their fields and flocks, glorifying and praising God for what the angels had told them, and because they had seen the child, just as the angel had said.

Found here

Jesus was a gift to us. He was a gift to all mankind because God loved us. God loved us so much that he sent his only son to die on a cross to save us (John 3:16). This selfless gift of love made it so we can go to Heaven with just a simple phrase of "I believe." All we have to do is believe and love God with our whole being. I believe that Jesus Christ died on a cross for me, I believe that God loves me and wants me to have eternal life with Him. How incredible is that!? A sweet little baby boy came to earth, lived a human life, suffered just like us, and then died on a cross to prevent us from separation from His Father, OUR Father. That is the most amazing gift, the best gift I have ever received. And it's all a gift of love. We didn't (and don't) deserve the sacrifice God and Jesus made for us. Humanity is quite simply put, wretched, but that's what makes the gift so incredible. We don't deserve it yet God loves us so much anyway he was willing to give up everything to save us, everything to draw us closer to Him. True love does not get any greater than this.

Remember this Christmas the true reason we celebrate. It's not about the decorations, the gifts under the tree, the food, Santa or anything like that. It's all about the little baby born in a manger to a virgin and a carpenter. Remember and be thankful. Celebrate with JOY this year knowing that God loves you so much He would give us the best present ever!

Merry Christmas!!

Cindy

Christmas Decorations!

Even though I didn't get to decorate too much this year since we don't have much space I want to share with you guys a few pictures I took of our tree and my vase of ornament balls that I love. And I also wanna share some pictures of my mom's house that I took while I was over there last Sunday. My mom is so good with decorating. She just has this natural flair for it and I hope one day I can make my home look as beautiful as hers always does!










And now for some from my mom's beautiful house!





Mom put owls all over her tree this year. She's quite obsessed with owls at the moment. =)

The tree on the back porch with Mitzi enjoying it.

The tree on their sunporch is the snowman tree!








I'm excited to hopefully next year be in our own place so I can do some full out decorating. I have a few other little decorative things out, like our stockings are hung and the piano has snowmen all over it. And our movie/game bookshelf has some stuff on it but I didn't take pictures of them (yet). It's nice though to have a bit of festiveness in our tiny little space. It makes me really happy and brings me so much joy!
Cindy

(Semi) Wordless Wednesday

Since we live in such a confined little space we aren't able to put up our normal tree this year. However, my mom had this little table topper tree and she put some lights on it and put it in the cute pot and gave it to me. I added some small ornaments I had bought for my tree last year and now I have a Christmas tree, albeit very small!
(Sorry about the quality of the second picture. I used the front facing camera on my iPhone and the quality is not NEARLY as good but I loved the picture anyway so I wanted to post it).

Wordless Wednesday

Cindy