******sparkle*******

Every year we go to the Woodinville Redmond farm and do a u-cut tree. We ride in the cute tractor wagon and look ever so hard for the best tree. Then we ask the driver to stop and let us cut one down. This year we had 3 kids. It seems to be more and more fun with more kids. The expression on their faces and the time we have together is priceless. Sparkle was the word that came to mind this year for our tree. It looks kind of funny because we have a towel and a blanket on our windows to block some real annoying sun light. We had fun decorating it and now the kids are having fun taking all the bottom decorations off. I almost would go without decorations. But that is sooo boring and each one has a meaning to us. There is a story to tell when Eli came home from preschool with his first decoration or when Sarina thought that it would be fun to put her bear in the tree as a decoration. Or me telling the family that the envelope we get for tree disposal was going to be a decoration so we would not throw it away before the boy scouts came. We do have regular decorations on them. We also make rings to go on the tree and thread kix or popcorn. Sometimes cheerios. As I sit and look at our tree, I sparkle inside. The nice warm feeling and that Christmas Spirit feels my heart with JOY. My kids smile at the tree knowing we decorated it together. They stare at it while they rest on the couch and ask questions about Santa and tell stories about Jesus that they have learned so far. The sparkle of the tree has brought Joy to our house this year. We never put presents under the tree for obvious reasons, until Christmas eve. The kids would rip into them. So the kids are totally surprised Christmas morning. We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Enjoy your family and enjoy giving to others!