Christmas 2010 (part one)

I gotta be honest... a couple of months ago when I looked ahead to Christmas I wasn't expecting much. Things have been tight financially, and while we're making it work I knew that our tight budget would not allow much for Christmas. While I knew our family would bless us with gifts as always, I also knew that our kiddos would be waking up for the first time at home on Christmas. See we are usually with family at Christmas, but because of Christmas falling so close to Sunday we decided it would be easier to stay home and wait till the day after Christmas to travel. That also meant there might not be much under the tree. Now don't get me wrong....Christmas is not about gifts, it is about celebrating the birth our loving Savior. However, we can't deny that gifts are apart of the celebration, and to think of two very excited kiddos waking up to not much (and by "not much" I mean one little gift each) was a sad thought (at least for me). Then different family members generously sent the kids money for Christmas. With that we were able to get Christmas PJ's for the kids (actually I got Samantha's on a great clearance last year but we got a cute set for James). Getting Christmas PJ's (a gift they open Christmas Eve and a little tradition we have) was so much fun for them, and I'm thankful it's something we still got to do this year.

With the money from family the kids were also able to get gifts for each other (something they had wanted to do). It was so sweet to see them to open their gifts from each other, and exchange thank you's and hugs with each other. I pooled the rest of the money they received with a gift card to wal-mart (given to us by a sweet friend) and got them a few gifts each.... new play doh tools (they LOVE their play doh stuff!), a strawberry short cake car for Samantha, a couple of puzzles, a new game for James leapster, and a couple of stocking stuffers.

But then we were also tremendously blessed by a few individuals....and one in particular..... a secret Santa. We have no idea who they are, but they blessed our family with 5 gifts each for the kids and a gift certificate to Kroger for us. Because of the generosity of others we had what probably amounted to our best Christmas yet......and not due to the gifts, but due to the love shown to us by others.

(This doesn't include all the presents we were blessed with when we traveled to Easley! More on that in the next post!)

Our family - Christmas 2010

To be blessed at Christmas by so many different people....family and friends....was overwhelming and wonderful.

Not to mention IT SNOWED ON CHRISTMAS!! A truly rare thing in GA (however, I think I've seen more snow since we've lived here than ever before...another post that's soon to follow).

God has tremendously blessed our family over the last year. He has sustained us and provided for us. He even provided over and above for me to be able to travel half way around the world to Ethiopia in September! The gifts at Christmas really were wonderful, but we are also thankful to Him for the gifts we all too often take for granted.... a roof over our heads; food in our fridge; a healthy, loving family; friends who are like family; and a loving church. We head into 2011 excited about what will happen next, and thankful for all the gifts He gave us in 2010.