Giving, a New Celebrity, and a Christmas Concert

A few years ago my parents decided to give a portion of the money they spend on Christmas gifts for the boys to the boys to buy gifts to donate to kids in need. I LOVE this tradition! Not only does it cut down on the amount of toys given to my kids, but teaches them the true meaning of Christmas. I am impressed every year by the time and thoughtfulness the kids put into choosing gifts for other kids. Nathan even bought a couple of things for "little kids" and Noah bought some things for girls.

For family night we took the toys to our local fire department and put them in the Toys for Tots bin. The firefighters commented on how many things the boys were able to buy!

We baked cookies that afternoon and brought them to give to the firefighters. Nathan handed them to the fireman and said, "Thank you for all you do for our community". How cute is that?!?

The lieutenant came out to meet us and took the boys on a tour of the fire station. The kids asked lots of questions and were really well behaved! I love this pic of them!

When we got in the car to go home I asked the kids to stop and think about how they were feeling. They shared their thoughts and I hope they remember how warm and wonderful they felt giving to others.

The next day Noah had a chess tournament with his chess club and he won 2nd place in the intermediate group! He won a medal and was so proud of himself! He said, "Let the celebrity status begin!" Where does he come up with these things??

To continue our insanely busy December, Scott and I bought tickets to take my parents to see Amy Grant perform a Christmas show. We all love her Christmas music and knew it would be the perfect gift for my parents! Her husband, Vince Gill, was there, too, and he was ok, but we really enjoyed Amy! I loved having my parents to myself for an evening!

Below is a series of pictures showing how challenging it can be to get a decent shot of my mom. She has very thin eyes and says she can't smile and have her eyes open at the same time.

Take 1

Take 2

Take 3 - her expression looks like my dad just "goosed" her!

Take 4

The next morning my dad sent me this email: We just wanted to say, "Thank You," to you and Scott once again for the tickets to the Amy Grant Concert last night. We enjoyed the show, and, more importantly we enjoyed the company.

Love,

Mom and Dad

I just love them!