Christmas morning 2011

Our crazy little Christmas elf on Christmas morning... HAHAHA!Santa brought her just what she asked for and some stuff she didn't even know she wanted... like new cars and some Lightnin McQueen slippers!

Beans enjoyed her Christmas bone.

Leah has already worn out her dry erase markers in the few short weeks since Christmas.

I just liked this smug look on her face...And this silly face she is making singing "Mary, did you know?" after her bath on Christmas. That is some serious nostril flaring! This year at Christmas I found myself singing that song often. Can you imagine kissing the face of the baby Jesus? Can you imagine being given the responsibility of parenting the only son of God? The notion of that song hit me a little more squarely this year than ever before. One thing I definitely took away from this Christmas season was a deeper understanding of the humanness of Jesus. He was fully divine, equal to God the Father. Yet he was, for a time, as fully human as me. While I don't know how that was accomplished, I feel like I better understand just one of the reasons why.

He was no stranger to living around sin and corruption. He endured temptations just as each of us do. And he made choice after perfect choice that aligned with the will of God the Father. Denying his flesh. Fulfilling his purpose. Building his kingdom. And all the time he was doing it so that he could identify with us! So that we might believe him when he says to us "I know what you are going through...you can do this!" Its so sweet. Its so compassionate. Its so simple.