'Tis the Season to be Thankful

This is the season of joy, snow, skating, special church services, breaks from school, trips to Santa, gift giving and receiving... all things that are fun and special - memories that last a lifetime. It's been during this time we've been harshly reminded of the preciousness of life and the importance of not taking it for granted. A little boy is fighting to recover in a pediatric ICU...we pray for him and his family as he works to recover and become a true Christmas miracle and are humbly reminded that each moment with one another is a gift.

It's in this mindset that I'm adding some of our holiday memories so far this season. Made more precious by being reminded that tragedy knows no bounds and can strike anyone at anytime...we are thankful for health, happiness and the times with our children. And we pray for that special little boy and his family as they travel the road of recovery.

Each year our local fire department does a food drive. They drive a decorated fire truck around the neighborhoods with Santa on top waving to all the kids, while other firefighters walk behind and collect food donations. We've always managed to miss it - last year they were really cruising and the kids were pretty sad. So, this year we 'tailgated' at the end of the cul-de-sac so we would be sure to see them. The boys were super excited when I told them what we were going to be doing and immediately started bagging up tons of groceries to share... which I did need to limit; after all, I need to make dinner too ;)

We took out the car seats, laid down the seats and loaded up the back of the SUV with blankets, books, snacks and hot chocolate. They were waiting for me in the car to drive them out - almost 30 minutes before it was time! (next year I'll wait a little longer to tell them!) We had a blast eating, reading and listening to music while waiting for Santa to drive by. Our neighbors joined us toward the end and the kids were so excited when the sirens and lights got closer. They gave the firemen the food, waved to Santa and then the older kids ran down the sidewalk for a few blocks after the truck - as some of us mommies froze!




I took the kids to Madagascar 2 as part of food bank drive last weekend too. They gave free admission with a food donation. It was a little harder this time as Aiden was ready to go about 45min into it and was saying it pretty loudly, "mom, I'm ready to go home!". The movie was cute though and we had a great time.

This past week we started decorating for Christmas. The boys loved putting up 'their trees' in the hall outside their rooms. They took decorating very serious and did an excellent job. They also helped me put up the big tree and get all the decorations on it. I have lights all over the house so they love running around in the morning and plugging everything in.





We also squeezed a visit to Santa in this week. Brendan had four pages of 'suggestions' for him ;) They were cute talking to him, although we really had to work to get Aiden to sit next to him when it came time for a photo! Of course, we were walking away and Aiden stopped and wanted to get his presents right then!