Izzy & Seth say "Merry Christmas!"

We are winding our way down on Izzy and Seth's first Christmas.  They really don't know this day is different than any other except for the extra attention they got with daddy at home and Poppi Breen, Uncle Kev and Uncle Drew visiting for the day plus the insistence their crazy parents had on getting pictures of them together in their Christmas shirts. The kiddos were visited by Grandma Rinehults on Christmas Eve and received some cool toys and clothes.  All in all it was a great first Christmas spent with people we love.

Am and I are going with the "crazy" concept of not giving the kiddos presents from us for Christmas.  Our plan is to use the Christmas season to teach them to bless others without the need to receive a ton of presents for themselves.  We want to try to use this as a way to further place the focus on it being Jesus's birthday and less on it being about us. This is a big stretch for me as I am naturally a gift giver and absolutely love that part of Christmas but we are going to try to redirect that passion of mine to reach out to others.  A lot of the inspiration comes from a blog that Am reads that is written by the author of One Thousand Gifts.  It is worth a read:  http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/12/the-grateful-christmas-project-7-ways-to-have-more-grateful-kids-this-christmas/.  I am not sure how this will play out in the years to come but we are praying God will give us wisdom in developing kids that desire to use what they have been blessed with to bless those around them (both near and far).

We did manage to get the kids into their Christmas outfits and side-by-side without screaming.  They both have an amazing ability to sense when a camera is near and the smiles and laughs always seem to cease.  This really drives their photo-happy father nuts!  But they semi-cooperated below in a resigned effort to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!