something so sweet, i had to share.

so this is christmas...

i feel like i am so far behind. we just set up our tree on saturday. we have no stockings hung by our fire.only a few gifts have been bought. my home doesnt even smell like christmas.

i am so glad

that christmas means 

more than all that.

 this year i see christmas in a whole new light. as i hold my tiny baby close to my body and rock her to sleep, i think about how mary did this very thing. when i sing to my hungry baby while i franticly try to get myself ready to feed her, i think about how probably struggled with feeding her tiny baby too. the only difference is that when she sang her tiny one songs, she was singing them to the LORD. the mighty God. the one who would one day save her. i can not imagine. 

last year, i felt like elizabeth. dreaming, waiting, and praying for a baby. this year, i feel more like mary... holding my babe, wrapped in a swaddle and telling her all about the child who grew up to be a man, who died to save her life and holds her in his hand. as i write this, i think about how sweet it is. how sweet the LORD is to allow me to experience this wonderful, beautiful, and terribly hard thing called motherhood. how blessed i am that my tiny baby is still a newborn this christmas. that i can have a glimpse of what mary had... and appreciate in a whole new light that the LORD was every bit a human. he was as tiny as maggie, but more mighty than anything else in the world. that he came, to die for me. that we are celebrating the day that mary's son came to die a brutal death to save his mama, his daddy, and you, me, and maggie too. its amazing.

it doesn't matter if i ever get those stockings hung up, because what matters is that i celebrate the birth of my savior by worshiping him for coming as a tiny baby and dying as a humble man... all for me.

xoxo-

a

better late than never....

Here is a photo overview of how we spent our
first Christmas,

married.

nick opening a gift on Christmas eve...

a fun date at the pnb nutcraker

our first Christmas tree... and some fun friends.

baking cookies!

the top of our tree...

a night at the ballet...

our Christmas eve tradition...

our home for the holidays....



i will post again soon...

xoxo: a

it smells like Christmas cookies...

this weekend was full of Christmas events! on Friday, (which is our regular date night) we went out to dinner and then drove around the highlands looking at Christmas lights... which is something that I (Ally) always did with my parents. it was really interesting because i am pretty sure that there was significantly less houses decorated here in the highlands than in maple valley; but it was still so fun! we also found a house that Nick used to drive by when he was a kid, and it had most of the same decorations and they were really cool giant boxes with moving scenes inside them. i really liked it.. it was my favorite! Then on Saturday, we got up and headed to the mall to finish (and start!) our shopping! Thankfully we got there early enough that it was not too crowded and left just as the mall started to fill up. Later that day we headed to the Munsinger family Christmas party at my parents house... there was about 48 people there, and we played a fun game and came home with some really useful gifts! On Saturday night we went to our friends, the Studley's house for a "tinsel and taco's" party, which was really fun! Sunday we went to Church and the sermon was awesome. I am always amazed at how the LORD is working on things in my heart all week and then those things are the topic of the sermon on Sunday. we serve an awesome God! We also started baking Christmas cookies on Sunday... this morning, i started icing them, so i am excited to see how those all turn out! On Tuesday, we are going to the PNB Nutcracker.... and we are so excited! i will post some photo's soon... but for now, have a wonderful first day of Christmas week!

love,

N&A