It's Christmas Time

Chocolate and peppermint checkerboard holiday
cookies, complete with wobbly sides.  

It's a chilly December weekend and I'm making cookies with my kids.  We picked up a magazine a few weeks ago with lots of new recipes to try, so today we're making checkerboard cookies.  The kitchen smells like chocolate and peppermint.  And even though I can't manage to cut very straight, the cookies have turned out nice and pretty.

We still have to decorate our tree and I'm not sure we'll get to putting lights outside this year, and tomorrow we're decorating a gingerbread house.  I really love all the trappings of Christmas with kids.  It's such a blessing.

I just can't believe that the end of the year is nearly here.  This year has been a fast one for me.  And I'm reminded of that when I look to see how much my kids have grown over the last year.  It's terrifying.  Parenting is definitely not for sissies.

So as I listen to Christmas carols and feel the joy of the season swirl around and through me, and feel compelled to do silly, spontaneous stuff like this, I'm reminded how grateful I am to be a mom, and how grateful I am for the gift of baby Jesus. I'm surrounded by friends who are not believers, and that's fine. They poo-poo the whole concept and say, "If Jesus even was born, he wasn't born in December."  And that's fine, too.  It's not about the date on the calendar. It's about celebrating this incredible gift to us all, and the whole miracle of it all. The fact that God would put on flesh to walk among us and teach us, it's just over-powering.  I am so grateful.

So all my friends, believers and non-believers, I hope your hearts are all touched by the spirit of the season and that you are all truly blessed this time as well as throughout the year.