On the Nice List

Sing with me now, "It's the most wonderful time of the year!!" Because as Buddy the Elf says, "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear." And if you're rolling your eyes at me right now, quit being so Scroogey. It's no secret that I love the Christmas season. I love all the decorated stores, the lit up houses, the frosted cranberry candles. I love having the Christmas tree lights on. I love watching Christmas movies (Elf, obviously. White Christmas, most definitely. It's a Wonderful Life. Christmas Story. Christmas Vacation. Love Actually. Do I keep going?) I love family time. And I love Christmast at Northview Baptist Church. Every Sunday is special and festive and brings me back to the most special reason to celebrate. Because what began with a baby in a manger, ended with a Savior on a cross. A lifetime of gifts and merry, bright days will never compare to the magnitude of the gift we received that night in Bethlehem. As one song puts it: one king held the frankincense, one king held the myrrh, one king held the purest gold... one King held the hope of the world.

Even sweeter this year is spending all this for the very first time with little Cutler Jones. I know at 6 months, he doesn't really have a clue. But no better time to start like the present! I was secretly hoping that he'd get asked to be Baby Jesus in the Living Nativity at church. But this year the children put on the Nativity and I suppose they figured it wiser to have a doll baby instead of a real one in the arms of an 8 year old. LOL. That's ok. Maybe in a couple of years, he can hold the roll of Toddler Jesus when the Wise Men come to visit. Besides, this has been a busy month for the little guy. Filling Jesus' shoes might be a tad overwhelming on top of it all. Ha! He turned 6 months old this month. Big doings! He started sitting up and actually plays quite well in that position! He had his appointment where we learned he weighed a whopping 18 lbs. And he's started eating cereal. Ok, technically he gags on the cereal. But he does great opening wide for the spoon. He's just not a fan of thicker substances sliding down his throat. He tries to cough it out. I laugh. Jeremy's afraid he'll choke. At least one of us is concerned for his safety....

Just this past Sunday we had his 6-month pictures taken. I'll post those as soon as they're available - but he was a total ham. And... he did great his first visit with Santa! I had a day off and we carted him up to Bass Pro on a Wednesday afternoon and wonderfully missed the normal Santa line chaos. We walked right up and put him on Santa's lap. He stared at him for a minute and then turned toward the camera when the camera man jingled some bells. Below is the result: (Coming as soon as I remember to sit down at home and upload the pic.)