Holiday Visits

We have been in Florida 8 days and have done lots of visiting!  We aren't done yet!  Lots of you still to see and spend time with :)

Christmas 2012

We spent a wonderful day opening remote control cars, playing with the Leapster Explorer and lots of trying on new clothes.  I never even took my camera out :)  Enjoying the season of friends and family!

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve :)  We have had a very busy 2 days in Florida but tonight....

 We camp out under the tree watching movies,

 leave out cookies and milk,

and wait,

and dream of Santa.

Silent Night :)

Class Christmas Party

Cooper and all his best friends had a great time at the class holiday party today.  I was so happy to be told "Leave your class and go be with your son"..we had a great day.  

Off to Florida in the morning :)

SLEDDING :)

A visit to the Broadmoor Hotel for Christmas

Perspective and Santa

It's Christmas. Like the rest of the nation, I am grief stricken over the shooting of Kindergartners and 1st graders at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT. I have cried for each child and educator lost and prayed for each momma who is without their baby because of a senseless act of evil. Only today in church when I heard "But where sin increased, grace increased all the more" (Romans 5:20) did I get some sense of comfort. To come home and turn on the news and see people gathering in churches, talking about prayer, and to see a father's forgiveness after losing his precious daughter, makes me hopeful that GRACE WILL INCREASE MORE. It is not our place to know how, but I know that if collectively, we all listen to "those whispers" I talk about a lot which is the Holy Spirit/God calling us to action, grace and change can take place. I know today I allowed myself to just enjoy Cooper, stay mindful in the moments of the day and be grateful for every breath I took today. EVERY day is a gift for all of us, and I hope to have many more positive days like today in the face of evil that exists around us all of the time...it just boldly showed it's face on Friday in CT. 
So.....Cooper saw Santa. After church (that he and I attended together instead of me dropping him off at kids church) we went to Old Town Colorado to walk around and enjoy the day and get a few local gifts to bring to Florida for Christmas. We learned Santa was there so we jumped in line!

What I thought at first was a small line turned into a little over and hour to wait in 37 degree weather. Only one family in the house with Santa at a time and no personal photos allowed. Cooper was excited the whole hour, was great in the line and was beyond excited when he got to have time with Santa.







(please not he dressed himself and has on one green sock and one white sock...

we were in a rush this morning!)




This is my cell phone pic of the picture. A little blurry but you can how great it was! Santa knew Cooper right away from our visit to the North Pole and said " you lost a tooth since I last saw you!" Cooper gave him a huge hug and spend some nice alone time with him. Just us and the photographer and the sales lady to sell the pic...very intimate and personal...worth the wait and frozen toes!



So we went to a nearby coffee house for hot cocoa, muffins and checkers :)



We had a lovely day and a great Christmas celebratory day :) We are excited to leave for Florida in 6 days.