We made a family outing in search of the perfect tree. And did we find it! I love the smell of real Evergreens. Noah enjoyed hanging the ornaments. I brought home my classroom tree to put up in Noah's room instead this year. He loves having his own special tree (which he decorated himself). He's very proud of it including the Nativity scene he has in his room. We talk to Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus often. I also bought an advent candle set, too, though Noah doesn't quite understand its meaning yet. I look forward to when he does.
We spent a Sunday evening decorating our church for the season, too, called Up With Greens. Noah helped decorate the JourneyKids' tree. He did a great job!
I took Noah to Dollar General in search of toys which we donated to our church's toy drive to benefit the Cleveland County Christmas Store. Noah picked out each of these toys. We talked a lot about how these toys are not for Noah, but for other boys and girls who don't get many toys on Christmas because their mommies and daddies can't afford them. Noah was very excited to show Daddy (since Daddy was at the fire station that night). Noah explained to Daddy the next morning the toys were "Not Noah's. For other kids". Noah and I dropped off the toys at church later that week. I asked him then who these toys were for and again he told me, "Not Noah's. For other kids". Noah's first lesson of the true meaning of Christmas was a success.
My Sunday evenings are spent in southwest OKC co-leading a teen girls' bible study called LOL: Ladies of the Lord. It is quite a blessing. Its inspiration came from one of the girls' moms who desired for her three daughters to have a solid youth group experience since their church wasn't offering it. This group of girls means an incredible amount to me. I am learning so much about my faith and how to reflect God's love. They are a true example of that. Out of this bible study, the girls began desiring to serve. So...
We signed up to serve at the Cleveland County Christmas Store! We worked in the toys department. The girls buddied up and were spilt into separate rooms according to age of the toys. The needy families made appointments to 'shop'. There were over 1,000 toys donated by Journey, our church, to support this part of the Christmas Store. The experience was wonderfully humbling to watch the girls serve the families shopping for the right toy and demonstrate God's love. One of the girls worked in the infant room. She said a dad came in and immediately went for a pink blanket for his infant daughter instead of a toy. That speaks volumes about needs versus wants. The best part for me was working in the 5-6 year old room and seeing the Buzz Lightyear laser gun Noah had picked out when I took him shopping at Dollar General and then watching a mom pick out that toy for her son! The universe became very small then. What a cool Christmas blessing. 
(Jordan, Lindsey, Makayla, Lexi and Taylor)
(all 7th graders, but Taylor, who is my 8th grade student right now)
(LOL: Jordan, Kennedy, Madde, Adrianna, Taylor, Kaylee, Lindsey, Makayla, Kylie, Lexi, Layken and Morgan. 7th-10th grade)
My school started a canned food drive to benefit two of our families through Winter Wishes which is a program were the faculty members 'adopt' a few families and provide Christmas for them when these families wouldn't have a Christmas otherwise. The surplus of the drive will be delivered to the City Rescue Mission. Stephanie Higley, who I teach with, and I are selecting students who donated cans to accompany us to make the surplus donation. This will be a really cool opportunity for our students to witness firsthand where the donations go and who it helps. My students are excited to give because in four days, my students collected 294 canned food items! We still have a full week of the drive left! It's just incredible to watch these young hearts give...and give BIG! One student told his mom about it and she emailed me. She said her son was so moved by what I said about some of our kids not having enough money to eat at home that he took all his allowance money to buy groceries for this drive. He spent over $30! Another student who could actually benefit from this canned food drive brought in more than 30 items herself. She was even asking her neighbors to contribute! She reminds me of the widow who gave all she had - two small copper coins worth a fraction of a penny. And Jesus said, "I tell you the truth that this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth, but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on." -Mark 12:43-44
Noah was my date to my school's Winter Wonderland semi-formal. We got all gussied up to dance with a bunch of junior high kids! Noah was a great date! He held my hand. He used kind words. He told me he loved me. And he asked me to dance!
The best part was when the royal court was escorted in for the crowning of Prince and Princess and King and Queen. Noah walked in one of the crowns. He was a doll. He followed the little girl who carried the other crown. He didn't drop the pillow. He was perfect and precious! It was good practice for our niece Shelby's wedding this summer!
Other things we have done to celebrate the season:
We visited the Baptist Children's Homes live Nativity pageant twice! It was a stellar example of Christ's birth, life and resurrection. It really set the tone for the season. Plus, it had live animals complete with a camel that Noah loved to see!
We also made a family outing to the Down's Family Christmas Light Show in east Norman. It's just a regular family who has decorated their land and house with a fabulous light show that is synchronized to Christmas music. It is an awesome witness, too! The main focus is the birth of our Savior. Plus the family collects monetary or canned food donations to the OKC Regional Food bank as part of the show. Last year, they collected a little over $17,400 and nearly 10,000 pounds of food! God is good.
And then every night we come home from whatever it is we've been doing, we have to drive around the neighborhood to see all the lights. Noah adores this. It is so wonderful to hear his little voice say, "Oh that is bee-you-ti-ful, Mom." Brings joy to my heart.
And finally, Noah asked if he could see Santa. He told me he wanted to sit on his lap and have Santa hold him. He also told me his hair needed to be fixed before we saw Santa. So we took him. Noah was eager to see Santa! We waited in line...a little impatiently. Once it was Noah's turn, he ran to Santa and climbed up in his lap. He said he wants choo choos and a laser gun for Christmas. The picture doesn't do justice to all the Christmas excitement Noah is feeling, but let me tell you he's thrilled! And we're having a ball watching him enjoy it all! Hope you're in the Spirit too!
