Friday's Letters

Dear Weekend,  Thank you for being so relaxing and fun for us.  We loved watching Christmas movies all day Saturday!

Dear Mickey, Thank you for making my girls day.  And you look super cute in your sweater and Santa hat!

 Dear Claire, Stop growing up!!  Seriously, 3 teeth in 5 days??  Nothing like the constant reminders that you're not going to stay little.

Dear Mistletoe, Thank you for making Christmas such a magical time of year for my girl.  I'm dreading you leaving in a few days!

Dear Sister, Thank you for going to see the cutest movie with us!  We always love spending time with you.

Dear Students, Thank you for getting me awesome gifts!

 Dear Christmas Break,  Thank you for finally arriving.  But PLEASE, go slow.

Linking up with Ashley

December thanks{living}

What a month.  I loved every minute of it.  And I'm thankful for the memories, opportunities, people, and experiences...

...I'm thankful for my job.  Since I have to work right now, I'm so glad I get to minister to kids and their families each week.  December was a super hectic month, as far as ministry goes...but it was so fun.

my office...I share it with Katie...here's the evidence that December was hectic...boxes everywhere!!

 ...I'm thankful for my sister and that we were able to celebrate her life at the beginning of the month with a Wine & Canvas night.  And yes, we're dressed like twins...not intentionally, but it works since people are always asking us if we are.

...I'm so thankful for friends and new traditions with them...Christmas Eve Eve with the BeMents & Caudills was a big hit this year.

...thankful that my baby sis is also my sis-in-law.  It took Christmas to a whole new level for us this year...good thing we love each other!!

...I'm so thankful God opened the door for Claire to go to a Christian preschool the last 2 years.  She's thriving and loves being there 2 days a week with her friends.  She learning about Jesus, how to share, write her name, count to 30, write the letters of the alphabet, use scissors, and become a better friend.  

Singing Mary Rocked Her Baby Boy with Madison, her BF.

...I am so SO SOOO thankful for my amazing family.  People who love Jesus, serve others, help each other, love unconditionally, and have helped train up my child.  To get to spend so much time together this season means the world to me.  I feel so very grateful and blessed to have them all as my family.

For all these things, I am thankful.  Thank you Lord for an amazing 2012...looking forward to ALL YOU have for us in 2013!!

Making Memories

This Christmas season has been by far my favorite of all my Mommy Christmases.  It's my 5th Christmas being a Mom...and it doesn't get much better than this.  This year, Claire can tell the reason for Christmas...it's Jesus' birthday...Jesus came to die for our sins...and I LOVE  hearing her talk about it.  Because she understands the reason for the season, I've been ok with her being really into Santa stuff this year.

Growing up, my parents never really told us that Santa was real, but they didn't tell us he wasn't real either.  Our stockings were always full of gifts from "Santa"...and as I got older I was able to distinguish between "Santa Mom", "Santa Na", & "Santa Gramma's" handwriting.  It was still fun to pretend though.  I remember when I was like 12 or 13....my older cousin and I would always sleep on my Gramma's L shaped sofa....after almost everyone went to bed, my Mom and Gramma had my cousin and me help stuff stockings....it was a feeling of not really being a kid anymore...kinda cool, but sad at the same time.

I had never really decided if I was going to let my kids believe in Santa.  But without really thinking about it, I went for it!  Bought an Elf on the Shelf and everything.  Mistletoe was a huge part of Caudill Christmas 2012.  Claire loves her, and shed a few tears when her "friend" left.

I loved the polite letter Claire sent to Santa.  She came home from my Mom's telling me she had to send him a letter of her list.  So we wrote it and asked Mistletoe to deliver it for us.  Then a couple weeks later, she told me she needed to send another letter.  Oh my...greedy little kid!

Another thing we did this year that I loved was wrap up 12 Christmas books.  Claire got to open one each day and we read it together as a family.  As the years go on, we'll add more books to our collection and hopefully one day have 24 books to open for the 24 days before Christmas.  On Christmas morning we read the Christmas story from The Jesus Storybook Bible....love that version.

On Christmas Eve Eve, we went to our friends, Chad, Amie, and Tinsley's, for dinner and to look at Christmas lights.  I love that we have friends who just get us, we don't have to impress, and we all get along so well with.  The boys were roomies in college and have been friends since 2000, Amie and I became friends when we were working at church as single ladies, and now our daughters, although 2 years apart, are the sweetest and best of friends.  We always love our time together...it's been amazing to see our friendships progress over the years...now making memories with our sweet girls.  Christmas Eve Eve with the BeMent's is hopefully a new family tradition for us.

Christmas morning we opened a special family Christmas present.  Several years ago, before we had kids, I bought a pickle ornament.  Supposedly, it's an old German tradition.  Hide the pickle ornament on the Christmas tree, and whoever finds it gets to open a special gift.  We decided for our family that whoever finds it gets to open the gift, but it would be a family gift.  This year's family gift...Twister!!

Each year, I've purchased a Christmas ornament for Claire...the first 2 of her Christmases, I bought pretty anthro ornaments...cute and girly...then when Claire was 2, we started getting ornaments of things she had been really into that year.  So she has a Woody and Buzz ornament and a Rapunzel one.  This year, she insisted on My Little Pony, but I couldn't find one anywhere.  So I sent Daddy on a mission...this was his year to pick out an ornament for her.  Daddy (the push-over) got her 2!!

I absolutely loved Christmas Eve this year...it rained...and in So Cal, that is the closest we'll ever get to a white Christmas...we drank hot cocoa while reading Christmas books in the morning, had Christmas candles lit and music playing softly in the background, stayed in our jammies most of the day...and spent a lot of time reflecting on this year and God's goodness to us.  I have had an overwhelming sense of His wondrous love for me and my family.  So incredibly thankful this Christmas season...for traditions, my family, my dear friends, and the gift of salvation through the birth of the baby Jesus!

Caudill Christmas 2011

our beautiful 12' tree!

faking a surprise for the gift he bought himself!

Yay...Calico Critters!  Thanks Gigi!!

Calico Critter House

my favorite gift!

Claire's fave gift from Daddy & Mommy

We spent Christmas Eve with my family in Pauma Valley and Christmas Day with the Caudills at home.  Here are some pics of Christmas Day...

Claire's Christmas Program

"Mom, didn't Auntie Holly do a good job on my hair?"

"...the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay."

Proud momma!

Claire LOVES her aunties!

I LOVE this one...her wonderful Gigi and Grammy (I think Claire looks like my mom!).

So, as you can see, I'm a little behind on my blog!  Going back to December to get caught up!!

Shepherds

Christmas is in wha???  2 weeks?!?   You've got to be kidding me!!  Well, maybe that's why I haven't been on here to blog.  Life has been super hectic, and yet, I don't really have anything exciting to report...just the latest Caudill Clan activities.  So, here's a brief list of what we've been up to: attempting to get a real tree, then deciding no one wanted to put lights on a 12 footer; decorating our home for Christmas, complete with 3 Christmas trees (one being a fake, pre-lit 12 footer); going to Las Vegas to celebrate my sister's 30th...which included seeing "Immortal," the Michael Jackson Cirque du Soliel show (highly recommend, btw); hosting a tea party for my 5th grade girls small group and their moms; attending Claire's preschool Christmas program (adorable, I was SO proud!); family birthday party for December birthdays; family dinners with family visiting from out of town; dinners with friends; making a gingerbread train and house with roomies and friends; teaching Bible stories in Sunday School, helping with Christmas event at church; etc... I'm sure you can all relate in some way or another.

As crazy as it's been, I have to say, I was so blessed today to get to teach the 2nd grade class about the angels who appeared to the shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus.  It's a story I've heard a thousand times, and the 2nd graders have, too.  They were all completing my sentences and excitedly raising their hands to tell me the next part of the story.  But I wanted to try to make it a real experience for them.  So we talked about what the night might have been like...quiet...no cars, no planes, no iPhones with fun apps to distract anyone.  Complete silence, except for a sheep bleating here and there, maybe wood crackling in the fire, quiet whispers from the shepherds as some caught a few winks of sleep while the others watched their precious herd.  Can you imagine what they must have felt like when Gabriel appeared??  Hearts racing, eyes widening, sweat dripping, death gripping each others hands and shoulders.  I know that describes how I would have been!  Then once you start to calm down a little and kinda start to realize and comprehend what's going on...a whole multitude appears...are you kidding me?!?  This is the most frightening, amazing, scary, beautiful, terrifying, exciting thing I've ever seen...I'm sure was going through their minds.  I can't even imagine...I can't wait to experience multitudes of angels "praising God and singing, 'Glory to God in the highest,'" when I get to Heaven.  It's going to be awesome.  I imagine the shepherds were still stunned, but had that feeling you get in your stomach when you are so excited, yet so nervous as they left everything and ran to go find the baby Jesus, the promised Savior of the world.

Yes, I feel blessed that I got to teach that lesson to 2nd graders today, but I think I was more impacted than they were.  In all the craziness and busyness, I want to experience all the beauty and excitement the shepherds did that night so long ago.  I want to run to Jesus, to worship and adore Him and not get caught-up in the world's perception of Christmas...O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.