Christmas for me is a time of joy, love, and hope. Joy: Because of the little things that come with Christmas. Decorating the house, baking little treats for friends, and wrapping gifts to see joy on the faces of others. Love: Because the people who help me celebrate the gift of God's son, are the ones I care most about. My dear family and friends. Hope: Because that's what Christ gave to us when He gave His one and only son, Jesus. Without Him, we have no hope. But Jesus came into the world as a little babe to bring us that hope. The hope of Salvation.


Christmas seemed to fly by in our home. With all the buying, wrapping, and giving gifts, plus lots of baking, it seemed to pass by *way* too fast. But it was definitely worth all the work. :) We had 3 fun-filled days that were all "Christmas Related", and each day was superb in its own way. The first few pictures are of the Candle Light Service that our church put on the day before Christmas Eve. It was the first candle light service that Providence had had because last year we had a huge ice storm and it got canceled. The turn out was fabulous! For Christmas Eve we had a family friend over and enjoyed a quiet evening together. We have a tradition of eating Chinese food for our Christmas Eve dinner, and were surprised that another family did it as well!! You know who you are. :) Then came Christmas morning...Everyone gave each other their gifts and everyone *loved* what they got! The rest of the afternoon will be in the 2nd part of my "Christmas Post".

Well that sums up this post, enjoy the pictures! You'll know by the captions which pictures is what event. But I'm pretty sure you'll know by the pictures themselves. I'm going to break this into 2 parts and personally my favorite is the 2nd part. :) So stay tuned! But for now, enjoy!

The front stage, aren't the lights gorgeous? As time went on, all the candles melted and didn't look the best, so I was glad Sam took some before.

The String Quartet did a fabulous job. The night wouldn't have been the same without them!

The kids choir sang "Once in a Royal David's City" and with Tiffany's help, did an amazing job!

I know its a little dark, but the lights and stage were so gorgeous that I had to post this shot!

3 girls, 3 friends, 3 smiles. <3

I kid you not, this was the first year our family put up a tree. In the past we thought that Christmas was too commercialized, so we didn't encourage it. But now that we're getting older and fully understand the meaning of Christmas, we broke down and got a tree. Isn't it pretty?

Christmas is a season of giving, just as Christ gave His son for us.

We went all out with the tree. When we were shopping for the ornaments we were amazed of how many different colors and styles there were!

Elita's personal favorite...of course. :)

You can't tell with this shot, but we had a garland up our staircase filled with lights, bows, beads, and yes, pine cones. :)

After such a wet and gloomy week, the sun shone on Christmas morning.

Dad reading the Christmas story with Elita cuddling beside him.

Time for presents! Hannah's pretty excited. :)

By the look on his face I'd say he's excited too!

Josiah and Hannah on looking...

And he finally got his leather jacket!

Hannah was overjoyed to finally get her own thing of lip-gloss. Can you tell?

I don't know about your family, but my sisters *love* anything from playmobil. Elita got the forest set and has been playing with it non-stop since Christmas.

Hmmm, I wonder what Mom got?

Emu boots. Can't get better than that!

Mom says that they feel like slippers, warm & cozy. She *loves, loves, loves,* them!

Hannah also got a little doll that she named Bailey Hope. Aww...

Our living room Christmas morning...

Check back soon for part 2!!