We went to the mall last night and here is what I am thinking:

1. Nordstrom’s Christmas decorations are to die for. Seriously made me reconsider my vow to never buy a fake tree cause their flocked ones looked pretty good….please don’t tell Brandon I said that. Ha.
2. Why do I have to love Anthropologie so much? I mean, I could live there. It is my favorite store. ugh.
3. Ok I lied, I could live in Williams-Sonoma too, and oh yes…Target of course.

Anyway, I digress, as usual, sorry. Sheesh…I get so sidetracked.

I said in the last post that I would say more about it, so here goes…Santa and Jesus…. Since I am hoping that someday my kids will take the time to read this blog, and since I’m sure they will really wonder how I feel on this subject {haha}…here’s my thoughts kids:

Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’ birthday {Luke 2}. Never, ever forget that. There is nothing more wonderful than Jesus, God in flesh. Wow…such a powerful concept. He came so that you might have life abundantly- a life full of peace, joy and love. HE is the reason for the season, hands down. If you never remember anything about me, or my writings, remember this…

Jesus is my all, and I hope He becomes yours too. And I pray that every Christmas you take time to stop, remember, and thank Him for coming to earth and dying for us. If you had to choose one gift at Christmas, take the gift of life that Jesus brought with Him when He was born in a manger 2000 years ago. Nothing like it, I promise you.

Ok, as I wipe the tears from eyes….

Now Santa…hmmm. When Jake was born, Brandon and I went back and forth on how to deal with Santa. Whether we like to admit it or not, Santa will come and go every Christmas…he’s pretty much here to stay. Brandon and I were both raised with Santa, but we were raised with knowing that he was a good man who blessed others with gifts in time of need. We both detest how Santa has become the “face” of Christmas…the current Santa is just a symbol or remembrance of the first Santa. As kids, we never really believed that he was real today {did you hear that SIMEON?} or lived at the North Pole, as fun as it was to pretend. We understood the concept of the first St. Nicholas, or Santa, and it really hit home to both of us. St. Nicholas was very Chrsitlike, actually. If you don’t know his story, I encourage you to do some research. Honestly, we feel that Christians should be more like him…he really puts most of us to shame.

ANYWAY {my fave word, I know}

We came to conclusions that we don’t mind talking a bit about Santa, having stockings, or *GASP*…taking the kids to see Santa.

So last night we took the kiddos. And you know what? All Jake wanted to talk about was this:

traced, cut out and then glued together. We added some wobbly eyes and pom pom noses to ours. We had a whole little science project out of it and I think we made reindeer for hours, literally. I have gobs of them all over the house.

Anyway, that’s all Jake wanted to talk about with Santa. And he was more than thrilled when Santa whipped out a photoalbum full of real life reindeer and showed Jake pictures. This teacher in me could have leaped for joy for bringing home our reindeer concept.

So our Santa picture. I must mention that I had a wardrobe malfuction with both kids, neither are wearing what I planned for them to wear…but that’s another long story.

Mashed Potatoes- I’m sorry, I don’t have “real” measurements for this, I just do with whatever I have.

Enjoy everyone! And remember, Jesus is the reason for the season, NOT Santa, Ha!!