Emmanuel

Here I sit. In a quiet house. Tears in my eyes and a babe at my breast. The tree is lit and half of the presents remain under it. New toys scattered across the floor with the smell of cinnamon and coffee in the air. It's Christmas morning, at least at our house.

I'm totally overwhelmed at the story of Christmas this year. I am a mother now. I relate to Mary on a whole new level this year. I am in awe of her strength and her courage. I relate to the experience of labor and the birth of your firstborn son. The moment that you claimed your victory, pushed through pain, and bore a child all your own. Now, what if you were birthing the Lord, the one sent to save all of humanity?

These things have been heavy on my heart and mind and were greatly influenced by a blogpost my sister linked to her facebook page. Please take the time to read it, here.

"Women can tell this part of the story this Christmas, the glimpse behind the veil, the life lived in the in-between of the stuff of God. There is a story on your lips, isn’t there, mama? of how you saw the face of God in the midst of fear or pain or joy and understood, really understood, Mary, not kneeling chastely beside a clean manger refraining from touching her babe, just moments after birth but instead, sore and exhilarated, weary and pressing a sleepy, wrinkled newborn to her breasts, treasuring every moment in her heart, marvelling not only at his very presence but at her own strength, how surrender and letting go is true work, tucking every sight and smell and smack of his lips into her own marrow."

-Sarah Styles Bessey

Why have I never thought of such things before? Is it because I have never been a mother this time of year before? Is it like she says? Men simply cannot understand what it feels like to be the one to birth your child? (Even though they are present, coaching us on and marveling alongside us at our birth, they aren't the one actually birthing.) Why do we picture Mary and Joseph staring down at the Lord instead of taking in the moment and holding Christ tightly in their arms, sweaty, exhausted, exhilarated, alive, and at peace?

I wish we could see pictures of Mary and Jesus just after his birth. We have done a great job of Americanizing the emotionless Mary and the clean, quiet baby Jesus. I can't wait to relate with Mary about birth one day. Thank you, Father God, for sending your Son to save a world so lost.

New Christmas Traditions

I always love this time of year!  We have been enjoying some festivities this weekend; starting with  Christmas cookies on Saturday night. I pinned a bunch of pretty Christmas cookies on pinterest and pictured beautiful cookies.  Lets just say our were not photo worthy.  Everyone made sure to comment that the icing I made was too runny.  Oh well, they still taste good!

We then watched Love Actually which is a tradition I've kept every Christmas season for about 5 years now.  I LOVE that movie and if you haven't seen it you should watch it!

Sunday we did Oliver's baby dedication at church.  Oliver did a great job on stage and we appreciated being prayed for as new parents with a precious little soul to raise.

We came home and ate a quick sandwich before laying down for a Sunday afternoon family nap. Kurt accidentally set the alarm for am instead of pm so we woke up an hour later than we planned.  We still made it out the door in time to go to one of my favorite places in Knoxville, The Tennessee Theater.  They were doing a free showing of It's A Wonderful Life.  We'd never seen the movie before and jumped at the chance to go back to the Tennessee Theater. Libby and Sean (my little sister and her hubby-to-be) met us there and ended up taking Oliver to the lobby for a good part of the movie.  Then we went to my favorite Knoxville restaurant, Cafe' 4.  Afterwards to got a few pics in front of the big tree on Gay Street before heading home to call it a night.

Oliver and I at the TN Theater

In front of the Gay Street tree

The bride and her groom!

Maybe if we stay in Knoxville the Tennessee Theater will become a new tradition for our little family.  We really enjoyed our evening.  Thanks for reading.  Enjoy some egg nog and Christmas cookies with your loved ones!

Deck the Halls!

We decorated for Christmas this weekend.  Every year it is something I look forward to and this year with a baby my excitement is multiplied.  Kurt worked hard for me this weekend getting the decorations from the attic, putting the tree together, putting on the lights (we have an old-fashioned tree), putting together our outside decorations, and even running to the store for extension cords.  He even had to slide our tree from one side of the room to the other, after it was all decorated, because we I decided it didn't look right where it was first located.  He's a good sport! 

To set the mood Oliver and I put on some Christmas pj's.  His were Gymboree reindeer pj's and wore a shirt that said, "Meet me under the mistletoe".  We started up our Glee Christmas station on pandora, made hot chocolate on the stove, topped with real, home-made whipped cream.  Plus the aroma of a baking pumpkin pie!  I love decorating before Thanksgiving because we always travel for the holiday and I LOVE coming home to a decorated house for Christmas! 

Kurt and I with our 1st Christmas ornament from him parents in 2008

The 3 of us with our +1 ornament from Kurt's parents last year

Friday evening Oliver and I did some shopping and I found his first Christmas ornament at Hallmark.  When I first saw it I knew I had to buy it.  I actually teared up when I wrote on the back of it before decorating the tree.  Thinking how he'll change each year, what life will bring us, and thinking of him one day putting it on his own tree with his own children, was enough to make me emotional.  I got this picture of him looking at his ornament after we found the perfect spot for it on the tree.