The Rush Is Over...But the memories remain.

So the holiday season is over and I'm a little sad to see it go, as I am every year. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday and even as a little child it was never all about the presents for me. I have to say I think my parents did a good job of teaching me the joy of giving to others. I wasn't raised in a Christian home, at least not one that attended church and prayed before meals and the Bible was never read in my home growing up. I got all of my Christian learning from my grandmother, Baba as I called her (which is a polish word for Grandmother), would come to get me each Sunday and take me to Church with her and then bring me home. In the summer she would come each day to get me and take me to Vacation Bible School, and then often we would go out for lunch with Papap. The point of this story is that when I accepted the Savior at age 14 I knew I would never be the same and though I knew the true reason of Christmas I didn't really KNOW it until after my salvation.

When I had children of my own my husband and I committed ourselves to raising our children to the glory of our Lord. To me this meant making sure that our children knew why we celebrate Christmas and also to make sure they understand that it's not all about the receiving of gifts but of giving back to others as well. Every year when my older boys see the Salvation Army bell ringers the first thing I hear is "Mama, can I have a dollar for the red bucket? Those people really need our help." So each time we pass by a red bucket each child places a dollar inside, we are not wealthy people but we have our needs met and giving those dollars to the less fortunate is really the VERY least we can do.

This year was special because it was the Baby's first Christmas and the older boys were excited to share with him all our Christmas fun! As we decorated the Christmas tree my oldest asked if the baby could help, so I brought the baby out and he sat in his seat and helped "sing" to the Christmas music. As we talked about the Christmas story my two oldest boys told the baby "someday when you are older we'll teach you all about Jesus and how to ask him into your heart", as we made Christmas cookies they told him "next year you'll be old enough to eat these and maybe Mama will let you help decorate too!", as we opened presents they said to him "I hope you like the gift we picked out", as we packed up to head to Grandpa's for dinner they told him "Grandpa gets us gifts too, but the best part is that Grandpa will play with us and Grandma gives us lots of goodies and kisses!", and as we pulled out of Grandpa's driveway they said to the baby "now watch because you'll get to see Christmas lights while we go home", and when we got home they kissed their baby brother and wished him sweet dreams and off to bed they went.

To me this is the best part of Christmas, both celebrating the birth of my Savior and seeing the joy on little faces as they stare wide eyed and full of wonder at the Christmas lights, and as they tear at colored paper to get to the treasure inside.

This year they saw many lights but the most impressive was the display put on by the local Mormon Temple see the pictures (thank you wikipedia for the images since I forgot to take my camera):








































We also enjoyed a train display this year by an area family who worked so hard and opened up their home and yard to anyone who wanted to come and see. It was a lot of hard work for that family I am sure and it was very enjoyable. The boys even asked to go see it twice! This time I did remember my camera:

















These are the best of the photos we took, and it's of two separate train displays one in the front yard and one in the back.

























Birbitt thinks that even though the end of the Christmas season has come, the memories made will be treasured forever.