Our {New} Christmas Traditions

I had intended to post pictures along with this post, but I'm suffering from serious laziness today (recovering from yesterdays highs) and drained from dealing with a random power outage this afternoon/evening at our apartment.  Power has been restored, but energy has been drained.
Our first Christmas together {just the 3 of us} was so memorable.  We are usually home in Seattle with my family, but despite being bummed to stay home, I knew that this year would be special.  Jerry and I had been discussing traditions that we would start in our family going forward.  I'm pretty happy at how it has all turned out.
In our family, the gifts we receive come from the true source of all we have, our heavenly father….not Santa.   Santa is just another character like Frosty and the Grinch, and he does not deliver to our home.
We only open one gift each on Christmas Eve…and it is the same gift every year…a new pajama set for each of us to wear that night and lounge in Christmas day.
We will sometimes attend a Christmas eve service with our spiritual family.  {This year, we decided it was too cold, too far and a little too late in the evening for our little lady.}
Bedtime on Christmas eve will include the story of Christ's birth from the Bible, as well as readings from our special Nativity book and singing carols for lullabies.  
Christmas morning starts with fresh brewed coffee and cocoa, and the emptying of our stockings.
Our traditional Christmas morning breakfast is Chicken & Waffles with Maple Syrup.
After breakfast, we open the rest of our gifts to one another.
We spend time together as a family, playing games, watching movies, listening to Christmas music, enjoying the gifts we've been blessed with.
We have a nice family dinner together.
We celebrate Jesus' birthday by baking him a yummy cake and singing "Happy Birthday" to him.



REMEMBER!!:






 

Merry Christmas! Glory to God in the Highest!!

REMEMBER!!:



 

Sneak Preview Saturday!!

REMINDER:


Welcome to the last sneak peek before the full redesign goes live next weekend!! I am really excited to share today's preview, because it reveals my goals and heart for this blog in 2012. Today I present to you the regular "series" line up for 2012. Some things will continue, but as you will see I have some exciting plans for this coming year.

Previously known as the "Weekly Wrap Up", I will continue to share a weekly summary of our Baxtron{Life} with lots of pictures of our activities and {of course} Zion!!

I've decided to merge my "From Mama B's Kitchen", "Recipes of the Week", "What's for dinner?" posts into one series that encompasses all food topics.  I'm not sure that I will post weekly meal plans anymore, but I will definitely continue posting recipes.

"Pinning!" will continue and {hopefully} grow into an even greater Pinterest Linky event, hopefully with giveaways and other fun prizes for the "Pinning-est" ladies on the web.

Until I had Zion, I always had a flat stomach.  Not anymore.  It is {sadly} official, I have a muffintop.  But, I plan on BLASTING it away this year.  Hopefully before I conceive baby number 2.  

This is a continuation of the same named series.  I believe strongly that in a time when Marriage is suffering so greatly in so many ways, people need honest, thoughtful encouragement in this area.  I'm committed to growing a stronger marriage, and so I will continue to share what I learn with you.

God has put a deep burden in my heart for the children of Liberia, a war-torn country in West Africa that is full of orphans who are in desperate need of love and hope.  I have no idea at this moment what God wants me to do, but I invite you to follow along in the adventure as He reveals His will for me {us} in 2012.

This new series is going to be a monthly or semi-monthly interview/post about a woman in my life that inspires me.  There are really so many of them, I cannot wait to introduce each one to you!!

And finally, the scariest series of my life.  The pure, unscripted truth about my life.  I have been through a lot in a very short time on this planet, and I believe {just like each of us} I have a story to tell.  This is where things get real about who I am.

I can't wait to kick off each of these series in the new year!

Merry Christmas Eve to you all!!

 

A Little Tribute to My Relationship with Jerry

I've been thinking about my husband a lot lately, and our relationship.  Sometimes it is good to think about everything we've been through, and what we've experienced.  It isn't our anniversary, but why wait.  We've been together for over 4 years, married 3.5 of them!!  I'm a blessed woman.  I love this man something fierce and I am so happy to continue to build a life with him.

I love all of these memories.  Let me never forget.




 

19 Months + VLog + January Ad Space Giveaway!

I have been meaning to do this for a while now… I apologize for the quality, I've not spent much time venturing into iPhone-cinematography.  This is part 1 of a very adorable two part video of Zion speaking out of her current vocabulary.


And now for a 19 Month Update!

Little lady…you are barely a babe anymore.  I watched as you carried on with your daddy today, I couldn't believe how you actually participated in placing the little candy eyes and buttons with care.  How did you get so smart and so advanced so quickly!?  
Things you love right now:  "Super Why!", Oatmeal, iPad/iPhone, Dancing, Singing (especially songs with hand motions), Turning Lights Off/On, Pretending with Elmo, String Cheese, Counting to 10, The ABC's, and any trips outside to watch people.
Your first memorable holiday experiences have you charmed for: the Christmas Tree, Presents, Christmas Carols, Hot Cocoa, Egg Nog, Apple Cider and fun holiday treats.
As I sit here writing this, you and your daddy have headed out for a movie date to see "The Muppets."  We have no idea if you will like it, be able to sit still with it, or even enjoy it, but we thought we'd test it out, since your daddy and I love going to see movies.
Happy 19 Months little lady,Love Mama Mommy
I enjoyed my little milestone raffle so much last month, that I thought I'd do it again.  So enter below for your chance to win the featured ad space on the upper right corner along with an exclusive post!!  Two runners up will get large ads and be included in my shared intro post!
a Rafflecopter giveaway






 

Wordless{ish} Wednesday ~ Oh Christmas Tree!

You may remember this post here, where I was hoping to have a turquoise, gold and purple Christmas! I'm happy to say I got just that!  The biggest win was the price…we were starting from scratch this year, and I spent $75 total!!  ($25 Tree, $30 Ornaments, $20 Lights)  I have extra ornaments to make a garland for the windows in our front room, plus icicle lights.

Her reaction made all of our hard work (and sacrificed sleep) the night before worth it! :)

I'll be scheduling some posts in advance this week, and not around a lot, but look forward to catching up with you all after Christmas!!  
Much love,

 

Zion's Triumphant Entry

Hey Friends!  Zion's birth story is featured over at SpearmintBaby today!  If you haven't read it yet, stop over there and discover whether or not I still want 7 kids!