Christmas 2009

Once all the hustle and bustle was finished our holiday season was full of fun, relaxation and a mad dash to get some projects done as a result my less demanding schedule. Since many of our normally scheduled commitments didn't take place for a couple weeks, I tried to get some long overdue organizing done at home. We got to take advantage of some of the many cool things Seattle has to offer during this festive Christmas season.

December was also very full of ministry opportunities for both Aaron and me. We got to see many people make decisions to receive Christ as their Savior. I'll never get used to the fact that God allows us to be active participants in what He is doing in the hearts of people. One of the biggest joys this season was telling Elijah about how God's Son, Jesus Christ, came to earth as a human baby because of God's unfailing love for each of us in this world. Few things topped hearing Elijah say, "Beebe zsheezsha!" For those with a less trained ear...this means Baby Jesus! I hope you enjoy some of our memories!

Anything Elijah can climb into
or on top of makes him happy!

Elijah's got quite a kick out of these little elves
when we were Christmas tree shopping. He
stopped to giggle and wave at them.

Elijah's pretty pleased when he gets to
roam free. He loves his independence,
but is still such a snuggle bug.

Elijah gets around pretty fast these days.
He loves to run and chase people.

These are our good friends, Paul and Dawn,
hanging out with us after lunch.

Everybody who sees Elijah's open mouth, which
you will later in this post, gets a kick out of the
fact that he has only his front four top teeth
and his bottom two front teeth, along with four
molars. We are hoping to see the rest fill in soon!

In the end we decided to stick with our little Charlie
Brown tree to save some money. Pretty comical.
This might just be a great tradition we've started. :)

Elijah got to see a camel, a donkey and a
couple reindeer at a local garden center,
Swanson's nursery. We went with Lisa
and Aidan and had a ton of fun.

Dasher and Blitzen were gearing up for their big night coming up!

Our buddies!

Cute!

Aaron preached at the Christmas Eve
service since our senior pastor was
out of town. He did a great job.

Elijah was pretty pleased with his new Elijah sized
chair! He seemed to be in a state of disbelief and
kept looking back at me with this look that said,
"Mommy, look at this chair!"

Elijah LOVES dogs and now has one of
his very own that barks, pants and wags
his tail! And, he doesn't even chew or have
accidents inside. Truly, man's best friend!

Elijah's investigating his new
tree full of finger puppet animals!

One of Elijah's Christmas gifts was a
tent and tunnel set. Fun times!

My mashed potatoes made it into Aaron's proposal speech
and I'd say Elijah may like them a bit too. Thanks Mom!

Elijah's trying to teach his daddy how to color.

Taking a cool evening drive.

Reading books with Daddy in the tent.

We took advantage of some of the
fun Christmas lights downtown on the
waterfront of the Puget Sound.

Elijah loves carousels! He signs please repeatedly
to ride again and does his little point and grunt
as we leave. I can't imagine what his reaction would
be to a real horse ride.

Happy New Year to you all! May it be blessed beyond your wildest hopes and expectations!