Buckets of Insight: Annelisa's First Christmas

Annelisa's first Christmas has come and gone and the song that I keep thinking of is "Blue Christmas." Take a listen...

Christmas was really wonderful; I've just been feeling blue that Annelisa's first Christmas has passed and I feel like I missed part of the emotion, the reason, the way it is supposed to be...then in the next fleeting thought I remind myself that in some ways her first Christmas is more about me and my expectations than it is about her...even still my focus should be on the most important reason of Christmas, the Gift of Christ coming to save us all. Not about whether or not I feel a certain emotion, have the best gifts under my tree, or prettiest cookies to ~~devour~~ eat. I am looking forward to future Christmas' where we can celebrate Advent with Annelisa and teach her the meaning and expectation of Christmas!

I will forever remember Annelisa's first Christmas with a couple of key events in mind...her first cold complete with fever, runny nose, cough, and chapped cheeks and over three inches of fluffy, thick snow covering North Texas.

We were very blessed and even provided for through the gifts we received. Annelisa especially enjoyed the pretty bows and fun wrapping paper, as most nine month olds do! Our gift giving this year was focused more on the memories of Annelisa's small hands and feet with lots of "homemade" ornaments to Aunts and Uncles and "hand painted" pottery to her Grammy and Mimi.

Pictures of our 2012 Christmas...