'Tis the Season

One of the highlights of living in our neighborhood is the Holiday Stroll in the village area.  All the shops open up for a night in early December and provide appetizers, wine, egg nog, or cookies to munch on as you wander up and down the street browsing the goods.  The Stroll has a Santa, horse drawn carriage rides, and Christmas carolers.  Most years, we split up so that Rachel and I can spend extra time in good stores, but Doug's buddy is down in Haiti, so Doug waited patiently on benches while Rachel and I tried to quickly peek at the merchandise.


Leigha and Mallory hosted a beautiful table at the Women's Christmas Tea this year.  The theme of the Tea was "What if Jesus was born today?" and put the birth of Jesus into modern times through a series of skits.  I was truly struck anew with God's gift to us and his unfathomable love for us.  "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

We chopped down a Christmas tree in the Santa Cruz mountains.  And by "we," I mean that Cliff chopped down a tree in the pouring rain as we slid around in the wet dirt and moss huddled under a golf umbrella, and Jessica tried not to drop Addy in the mud.  It was quite an adventure and extra special because the Christmas tree farm is the home of the florist who did our wedding flowers.

Oh!  And, I decorated our house for Christmas.  I stuck our Chistmas ornaments in a bowl on our coffee table, hung up our stockings from the only piece of furniture in our house that isn't from Ikea...and...that's all...