Kate was pretty cute watching her daddy stand on a chair to put the big bow on top of the tree...
Luke, at this point in time, spends pretty much every spare waking moment working with his erector set. This morning was no exception. So, while Marc & I were putting lights on the tree (something he *really* can't help with), he kept on working with the erector set.
Fortunately, once we said, "ornament time," Luke came running in with the rest of his family!
I already put this pic on Facebook, but I really enjoyed watching the excitement of our 6 year-old and 2 year-old as we opened the first tub of ornaments. Honestly, THIS will be what I miss someday when our kids are older -- the pure and honest excitement!
Poor Kate did spend of her time on the floor -- not because she was tired -- because I think we were telling her "No" a few too many times. Poor Girl!
Thankfully, I recognized this in Kate, loosened myself up a bit, and got her to participate. And now, FORTUNATELY, we have quite a few ornaments toward the bottom of the tree. And no -- I have not and will not move them!
Luke did a great job!!!!
Marc & I both grew up with real Christmas trees. In college, I purchased a fake tree & used it up until the time Marc & I got married!
When we got married, Marc insisted and still does insist on getting a real tree. It's a *wee* bit of a hassle, but admittedly, I'm glad we do.
Here's my main reason why....
We live in a completely backwards, imperfect, screwed up, wretched world. Roughly 2,000 years ago, a tiny baby boy was born in an extremely humble way. This tiny baby boy, named Jesus, was/is the Son of God -- God Himself as a human! He came to this backwards, imperfect, screwed up, wretched world to save us all by living a sinless life and then taking the punishment for all of our sins by eventually dying on a cross and rising again after 3 days!
Real Christmas trees ALWAYS have some sort of imperfection -- crooked, branches going different directions, needles falling off, etc. Real Christmas trees and their imperfections remind me of our messed up world and our need for a Savior!
Weird? I don't know....but, the older I get, the more I realize how imperfect & broken our world really is AND just how all of humanity needs the saving grace found only in Jesus Christ!
If you remember, last school year (2013-2014), our family hosted a French high school-aged foreign exchange student named Emma! Emma left 6 months ago to return to her family in France. We miss her a lot, and both kiddos seriously mention her everyday even 6 months later (which says a lot about Emma being a part of our family for almost 10 months).
This morning, literally 5 minutes after finishing the decorating of our tree, Marc went outside to get the mail. He came back in, excited, with a package from France! Our little Friesen Family of 4 immediately and excitedly opened the package. Emma had sent us 3 Christmas ornaments (from France), and they arrived just as we were decorating the tree! Talk about great timing!!!!
Lastly, if you didn't know, Marc is a pretty big TX Longhorns fan (University of Texas). We recently returned from a trip to TX! We made a stop in Austin, specifically at the university. We picked up a "Longhorns" ornament as well as *somewhat* matching shirts for Marc & Luke. Luke insisted on taking a picture with Marc, with TX shirts, in front of the "Longhorns" ornament!
In this pic, the diamond-shaped ornament is right next to Luke's right shoulder!
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