Happy Birthday Jesus!

We adopted a new Smith family tradition this year...The Jesse Tree Devotional! In the book there are 25 devotionals all pointing toward the coming of Christ. The book has a symbol for each days devotion and I was a part of a Jesse tree ornament exchange at my MOPS group, so we had 25 symbolic ornaments all wrapped up and ready to open and hang on our little tree each day. It was a huge success! My favorite parts were Eden's excitement as she answered the various daily questions like, "Who created the world Eden?" "GOD! created the world!" she would reply with hands clapping. Also watching Asher bow his head and fold his tiny hands to pray. Each day there was a song to sing...and dinner around the table has never been so much fun, we sang hymns at the top of our lungs and fumbled to remember all of the words. My absolute favorite memory was made a few days before Christmas. I asked the daily devotional question to Eden and it was, "What will you give Jesus this season?" She thought for a second and then her face lit up and she replied, "Ummm I think I wanna give baby Jesus a BIG RED Birthday cake." Wow...that's a great idea babs, I said. "when should we make the cake for baby Jesus? I asked." "Umm on his birthday would be great! she said"

So we did on Christmas day, Eden dressed up like a princess and mixed the batter with her Cinderella in hand. After it was baked she helped frost the cake and she furiously shook red sprinkles on her red velvet cake for baby Jesus. After our traditional Smith family Chinese food Christmas dinner out, we returned home, lit candles and sang Happy Birthday to baby Jesus!

Our Jesse tree devotional and tree!

Wide Eyed with gifts galore!

This year Asher and Eden really became wide eyed with everything Christmas...they learned that it is a day when we celebrate the birth of Jesus (a birthday). They also learned that there is this Santa Guy and that he has reindeer (who eat oatmeal flakes off of your lawn if you sprinkle them) and Santa comes through the chimney with small toys (to eat cookies and milk if you place them out for him) to fill your stockings. It is a lot to explain to a 2 year old and a 5 year old with special needs, but they generally got the drift. Their eyes sparkled this year as they opened the new toys that they were blessed with this Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

SNOW in CA????

YES!!! Snow does exist in CA...and it was only 4 hours away! We drove and drove with no signs of inclement weather, the roads were all dry, we began to loose hope and then suddenly out of no where we rounded a corner and white flakes began to fall...ahhh it was refreshing...on December 22nd we had found our white Christmas in Shaver Lake CA. There were a few kinks at our "snow house" (which is what Eden named our cabin). Just minor details like no heat or running water! We ate pizza and pancakes, snuggled in one bed, played in the snow. Asher and Eden loved the snow but simultaneously would get cold and cry...so we packed up and headed out and dried those tears with Christmas cookies all the way home!

For the very first time in his life, with some help, Asher was able to WALK in the snow!

Cookies to Share

One of my favorite things to do with the kids at Christmas is to make cookies. We use Kelly Rippa's grandmother's Spritzer cookie recipe. This year was huge because Asher helped mix the dough in the kitchen aid with the help of his able net switch. (He also mixes up a pretty good smoothie) He balanced on a stool while mixing! Both of the kids had some crazy fun with the sprinkles! We gave cookies to all those teachers, aides, and therapists that help Asher along each day and of course we sent some to the grandparents too!

Angels We have Heard on High after Applebee's...

For the past 2 years I have hung up a string of silver beads with angels tied with pink ribbons across Eden's bedroom window at Christmas time. She has had a fascination with the angels since she was a baby. Probably because they resemble a princess which is her all time favorite thing to pretend to be. Last Christmas, I started to teach her the song Angels We Have Heard on High song. She loved the GLORRRRRIA part. This year as soon as the angels were placed in her room she requested that we sing the "Angel song." So we did. Later that night we went to Applebee's for a quick family dinner and on the way home she asked if we could ALL sing the "Angel song" on the way home. Soooo, we did all the way home, dada, mama, asher, and eden all belted out Angels We have Heard on High singing the GLORRRIA part with gusto! So this song has new meaning in our family....togetherness! (And by the way Asher has learned many of the words to this song and his GLORRRIA's are super adorable.)

Happy SABBATH!