Dear Friends,

Happy Holidays! 

I hope you are all ready for Christmas—or at least feeling at peace about your current level of “readiness.”  We here at Echowood are ready and very excited (the kids especially, of course).  This is actually something of an oddity for us—to feel and be ready for Christmas when it comes.  Ever since moving to the South, it’s been hard to register the reality of holiday time.  How can one sing, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” when it’s 80° out?  Because of this, time seems to get away from us, and too much gets done last-minute.

Not this year, though.  We were fortunate enough to have a Parents’ Day Out through church, so we could drop the boys off and get almost all our shopping done.  Another day, they all went to a friends’ home for the afternoon so we could finish up—we even had a chance to have lunch out together (just the two of us, imagine that!) and get groceries, too.  We put our tree up over Thanksgiving weekend.  How on the ball was that?  Last night we went to see all the beautiful lights at a local park, and today we decorated cookies.  I’ve been doing the daily Advent Scripture readings, which really helps keep my mind focused on the reason for the season, as they say.  Brian and the boys have been doing an Advent calendar—a really beautiful one that he got for them, with little doors to open and magnetic figures to add to the scene each day.  Tomorrow little Levi will get to put up the Baby Jesus.  It always gives me pause during Holy Communion at Christmas to remember that our Savior began as we all did, as a tiny little baby; yet he was born to give His Body and Blood for us. 

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  We’re trying to get the boys to clean up their playroom now, rather than putting it off ’til tomorrow, as we’d like that day to be busy with fun things and attending services at church.

Anyway, I just wanted to drop a note to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!  May you have a beautiful and blessed holiday.

~ Kimberly