a palindrome day

happy 01.02.2010! we've been busy over here celebrating christmas with family and new year's with family AND friends! this christmas, we had a great time remembering Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and rejoicing in His birth and the promise of His return. the kids (lucas and emma) were so excited each night to open up another door of their advent calendar to see who or what would come next in the manger scene. they took turns opening each night. we found out that lucas is pretty clever. when we got down to the last 4 days or so, he let emma open the doors two nights in a row. at first we thought, "how nice!" but then we quickly realized that he had calculated it so that he could open up the last door to pull out baby Jesus to complete the scene. that sneaky boy!

my mom came and spent about a week with us but had to leave a little early (on christmas day, actually) because we found out that my aunt in california had passed away. i was fortunate to have seen her only about two weeks prior, but i was still extremely sad and shocked to receive the news that she was gone. it made me realize even more how important it is for me to share the hope that i have in Christ because sometimes it can be too late.

all in all, the kids had a great time visiting and celebrating this christmas with their po-po (grandma). they were spoiled, as always, by all of their grandparents and aunties and uncles and cousins. allan and i were pretty spoiled, too. one of my favorite gifts this year was this esv journaling bible that allan gave me (mine is black). i LOVE it and will treasure it for years. what great fun and memories for christmas 2009!

christmas card 2009

a collage from christmas eve and christmas morning
my mom and elise, admiring my mom's yummy fish dish!

lucas and emma enjoying the snow as it was falling on new year's eve
cute lil' miss addelyn and the greene twins (drew and gavin) at the wilkerson's 2nd annual new year's bash