Christmas Past.....

I sometimes worry that i take too many photos. When you are behind the lens of a camera, you aren't really "in" the moment; you are more of an observer of sorts. Lately, i've done a good job of just leaving my camera behind and just enjoying the moment. But leaving my camera behind has been difficult. I don't want to miss any moments for later...

I've spent some time today looking through our first Christmas photos with Emma. What an amazing Christmas that first one was with her! Just having her with us, showing her Christmas things, was more amazing than i could have imagined. She's almost four now (she'll be four in February) so Christmas this year has been even more magical for all three of us.

From the Christmas lights, to learning about Baby Jesus, to singing Christmas songs, to seeing Santa, well, everything is special. I know now why my Mom would say:

"I don't need anything for Christmas because i have you and your sister! I have everything that i need already!!"

I would roll my eyes every time she said this. And she would say it every year, many times. It made shopping for her a nightmare....but i understand now why she would say it.

I finally understand.

I finally understand because now i am a Mom.

And that i truly have everything i need to be happy right in front of me.

The best gift is just being in our lives with Emma. Seeing the world through her eyes and truly understanding how grateful we should be for each other. Teaching her about Jesus, the spirit of Christmas and the Lord and singing Christmas songs together. Teaching her how to treat others, how to love others are things that are so important for her to learn as she grows.

It makes me smile when she wants to take baby Jesus out of the Nativity Set and take him to bed with her to "keep him warm". It makes me smile to hear her sing Silent Night. It makes me smile to hear her talk about Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus being a family.

I'm doing a lot of smiling lately during this holiday season.

And i'm remembering to be grateful in my prayers and say 'thank you' to the Lord for the things in our lives. Being grateful is something that i've worked on a lot this year. In the daily flow of our lives, i think that being grateful gets overlooked a lot.

I struggle with the phrase "The Lord has blessed us with (fill in what you want here)". That leads to me wondering why some folks get 'blessed' and others don't. Or wondering why this person was "blessed" and that person wasn't. I know, maybe it's not in that person's life plan to be blessed with whatever you think is a blessing. But i still struggle with the "blessed" word.

Prayers at night with Emma are really interesting. She's grateful for the people she loves, elephants, rocks, Guatemala and chocolate. Kinda like me, i guess. Prayers from a child are different than prayers from an adult, i think. Prayers from a child seem, well, more simple.

Maybe because being an adult isn't always simple is the reason our prayers aren't.

I do plan on continuing to take as many photos as i can this holiday season. Sometimes, nothing will do but a photo and it's fun to look back to years gone by and remember silly things, and the memories that are made. It's those memories that intertwine us together as family and friends, you know.....

....and remind us to continue to be grateful for the moments that we have together.