Ride little Kitty!

Noah loves to "ride little pony" on daddy's knee. He likes it so much, he now rides little everything. He'll climb on top of Toby the dog or poor Charlie the cat if mommy and daddy aren't available; and if no living beings are present to bounce up and down on, he'll toss a pillow on the floor and ride little pillow.
  Another endearing new trait of Noah's is when I ask him to look at mommy and then I give him a command or ultimatum of some sort. Lately, I've been trying to teach him to say "yes, Mommy" when I tell him to do or not do something. The problem is, he's super good at saying "no" and only kinda okay at saying "yes". However, here lately, he's been responding to my request for him to say "yes, Mommy" by lowering his head to his chest in a large nod and saying "ya". I'm so proud!
 
   Oh friends! 'Tis the season of love and peace and remembrance! It's Christmas time! Kinda.
 The weekend, nay, the day after Thanksgiving, Stephan hopped into the attic and got down our three boxes of Christmas decorations, including the tree. We debated if we wanted to get a real tree this year, but decided to save money and stick with old Prickles. It only took about an hour and a half to have our house decorated.

 Noah loves the tree. He "helped" hang a few unbreakable decorations. Every morning, he says "light" and points to the tree until one of us plugs it in. At night, when we announce that it's bedtime, Noah makes sure to say "bye bye" to the tree.

    Here's the rest of our decorations. And the first fire of the season! (those are probably going to be pretty rare, as we still have a few issues with smoke wanting to sneak back into the house instead of going up the chimney).
    Yes, friends, it's that time of year when I have Christmas music playing most of the day and delicious smelling candles burning Christmasy smells throughout the house. I'm already dangerously low on spiced tea, as that is the beverage of Christmas for me and I've been drinking a mug a day. It really is the most wonderful time of the year!
    But it's not the decorations or smells or treats and drinks that truly make this season so special. I promise not to go on a preachy tangent about the true reason of the season, but I would be horrible wrong if I didn't talk of Emmanuel. Seriously, people, "God with Us"! What kind of God would literally make Himself so small for the sake of such undeserving people? Infinite, All powerful Jehovah became tiny, sleepy newborn baby so that His plan for salvation would make it possible for His lost creation to be reconciled to Him. I really don't need to type more, because that in itself is mind-blowing.
   It is with that knowledge in mind that Stephan and I celebrate Christmas. We plan on raising Noah, Witten, and any other children born unto us to love this holiday for what it is truly meant to symbolize: how the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We will give presents like God gave the greatest present to us. We will celebrate with family out of the joy of knowing that Jesus' birth meant we would be saved from eternal death through his death on the cross. Santa will be a cutesy, fictional character to entertain young minds, but nothing more.
    So friends, may you enjoy this advent season! May God bless you all richly. I am so excited!!