Let Heaven and Nature Sing!

There is a feeling that is accompanying this Christmas season for me that I have never experienced before. It's not just a reminder that Christmas is about Christ, or the desire to focus on Him more than all of the other seasonal fun. It's this deep knowledge that my Savior was born on this earth. I told a friend recently that I hesitate to even call it faith, because it feels more like certainty than anything else. A certainty that God exists and He is who He says He is. And I get to celebrate His birthday! That doesn't mean I want to forget about Christmas decorations and cookies and presents and Santa--it means I want to enjoy those things all the more, because they all revolve around the celebration of HIM.

So my eyes are viewing the joys of Christmas in a different way. We put our decorations up right after Thanksgiving, and had an impromptu tree-trimming party with my parents (brought on by needing some help from my dad with our broken water heater, but that's a different story!). It was an evening of gingerbread and ornaments and new Christmas jammies, and it was just plain fun. Lauren took the whole tree-decorating business very seriously, and made sure every last ornament was put on the tree. Jon put up two ornaments and was over it. We even had our first visit from the Elf on the Shelf!















May this Christmas season bring you much peace and joy, and the certainty that we are celebrating our Savior!