Merry Christmas from the Farm

"Merry Christmas from The Bauernhof"

Today we celebrated the birth of our savior on our farm. For those of you who don't know, JB is the second oldest of six kids. Four live on this side of the country (East TN, middle TN, Hilton Head and South Florida). And two live on the west coast (Oregon and California).

There are a total of ten grandchildren scattered among those six children -- and today we managed a picture with eight of them. Above you can see the cousin picture. (I added the two missing grandchildren so you can see all ten!)

There is a lot I don't write on my Blog. Some people think they know the "whole story" because they read the words I choose to put on these pages. But those of you who know me personally, know details that definitely aren't written about here. It's so important that as we watch people's lives flash in front of us on social media that we remember that those lives are what people choose to paint.

In summary I will simply state that there is intense grief in this family right now. And grief is hard. Grief is something that comes in many forms. It hits in different ways. It originates from different sources. 

But together, we can have happy moments in grief. That was today for us. Lots of tears combined with lots of laughs and moments that the tears could take a short break.

I wasn't planning on hosting Christmas this year. After our intense year of renovations, I wanted a quiet week here with just our immediate family. But God dictated something else. Grief dictated something else. 

And it was a beautiful thing. It was a needed thing. It was what God called me to do.

1 John 3:17-18 English Standard Version

¹⁷ But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? ¹⁸ Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

There are always people grieving. Look around you. Love them. And consider editing your plans to help them wade through the sadness that life is throwing at us. 

This life is hard.

But the promise of eternity thanks to the birth of our savior is such a precious gift.

Merry Christmas,

 

Christmas movies we love

"Yes! Yes I do! I like Christmas! I love Christmas!" Ebenezer Scrooge

Our kids are finally reaching an age that we feel they are "ready" to share in some of our favorite Christmas movies. (I'm skipping over all the "cartoon-ish movies that we've watched with the kids since they were very little. I wanted to share movies that were geared for the whole family -- adults included.)

I thought I would keep a running list of the Christmas/winter movies we felt were "okay" to share with our kiddos. Please take a minute to leave a comment sharing any movies you think we should check out!

There are a few things in this movie that aren't completely clean, but overall, it's just a fun movie for all ages. I can watch this over and over again!

We watched this one for the first time this year. It is just super fun and a really good time. Truly nothing major to complain about with this one. Not really "Christmas" but fun for the winter.

This is a Hallmark movie. (And you can watch it free if you do a "trial" on watchhallmarknow.com. This is truly just such a sweet and lovely story that is definitely appropriate for all ages with great lessons to discuss afterwards.

We finally decided to bust this one out this year. We were slightly concerned it might be a bit scary with "bad guys" breaking into the house, but it was received really well by my kids. They are currently calling it their favorite and asking to watch #2!

Okay so I haven't shown this to my kids yet. While very "adult appropriate" it does have a few things in it that I just don't want to explain right now. However, this is hands-down, my favorite Christmas movie for ME. (And hubby really likes it too!)

We have not watched this one with the kids yet but were thinking we may do it this year. This can't NOT be on any list.

This is another one on the "list" for this year.

Christmas "morning" with Grama Joni

Joni finally got her for her annual Christmas time at the farm! Her husband had gotten pretty sick on her first scheduled visit so she was forced to delay her trip. But she finally got here. It's a short visit, but we are so excited to have her to ourselves for a few days. Last night (Friday) we opened all our gifts. Here are some photos of our time together: 

Joni passed down this Delft Dutch vase that had been her parents to me. What a prized possession.

I love Isaac's expression in this photo. 

Abigail loves these birds. They make the sound of the bird they are. She is Daddy's top birding partner.

Isaac LOVES matchbox cars. He and his brother and cousin do "tournaments" all the time to see which car is the best racer.

Not even a black eye can stop me and my love of chocolate.