A Very Merry Christmas

In four words, our Christmas was

relaxing, peaceful, restful, lovely.

There are moments when I am still shocked that Nathan is actually here with us. When we accepted his referral, we knew it was quite possible he wouldn't even be home by this Christmas. And yet here he is, home for six months, settled and such a part of our family that we can't imagine being just the three of us anymore. He brought such fun to our Christmas celebration! He and Matthew were very enthusiastic present-openers! There were (surprisingly) no melt-downs, no fighting, no tears, nothing but happy, content boys who were so very excited about everything they opened.

My family was able to be with us this year (except one of my sisters, and we missed her so very much). It is a rare thing for us to get to spend several days together and it was wonderful! Nothing was rushed, there were so many people to play with the boys and we drank more cups of tea than I can even say :)

We had our traditional Christmas meal, prepared mostly by my dad and Brad! Nathan and Matthew both devoured their food - they're fitting in just fine in this family :)

At times this Christmas season I have felt like my heart just cannot hold all the joy. Last year, we were waiting for Nathan and I just knew there was a hole in our family. I won't say that our family is complete yet, but I have such a feeling of it being complete for now if that makes any sense. Before Nathan came, I found myself always dreaming of having two little boys. Now, I just spend the moments watching my sweet boys and enjoying life as it is. God has blessed us in ways I could not even have dreamed.

This Christmas as we celebrated the birth of our Savior, I realized again the joy and the privilege of raising our children and getting to tell them the most amazing story - that the God of the universe, the Creator of all things, loved us enough to send His Son to earth, that He died for our sins and made a way for us to have a relationship with the Father. I love Christmas and the chance to focus on the birth of Jesus, but my prayer is that this will be so much more than a "once a year" celebration in our family. God has changed everything for us and we are so thankful to be able to celebrate that every single day!