I Found It -- Christmas Spirit was Hiding in the Cookies

This afternoon, I made an impulse decision to offer to make gingerbread cookies with Josh. He'd been asking for quite a while -- since I bought a mix kit. He was so excited. He has always loved to cook with me, but we just don't do it often enough. Last year, we'd even purchased him a chef's hat and apron from P*mpered Chef. He shared the hat with Ellie for photo ops.

Turns out, when we started, we had no butter so a quick trip to the corner market (didn't have any), turned into a long trip to the D*llar Gener*l Market. Ellie had not made her debut there yet, so she was appropriately "ooh'd" and "aah'd" over by Nova (who works there), Lisa (my friend who just happened to be there) and several other DG employees.

On the way home, Josh got in the Christmas mood by singing (loudly) along with the Christmas songs. I wish I could have taken a picture of Ellie's face while she watched him. She acted like he was some kind of alien. We had a great time on the way home -- singing all the way. Keep in mind this is highly unusual of my little man these days. He's all "hormonal" or something and one can never guess what the mood will be, but it's not frequently singing and happy. I felt like I had my true boy back!!

When we got home, we put Ellie in her Bumpo up on the counter and gave her some of the cooking items to hold and play with and made her a part of making cookies. Chef Josh had a wonderful time making cookies. We turned on more Christmas music so we could dance around the kitchen while we were working. We had the greatest conversations about just regular "stuff". I thought about those last couple of Christmas seasons when we were talking about bringing "Ellie" home -- back when she was just a concept. Now, here she is -- making and eating cookies with us. Amazing blessing from God.

Ellie got a little fussy (aka ready to bounce around and be held!!) about half way through and I held her. As I was standing there, holding her, smelling baking gingerbread and watching Josh making cookies, all along listening to Christmas music, it hit me -- the spirit of Christmas. And while we've decided that this year is not going to be a "go all out" Christmas financially, I felt happier about Christmas than I have in a long time. Family, love, togetherness -- that's what it's all about, not about a material present. The best gift -- the one given by Jesus -- was not material, by any means.

While we were cooking, we heard helicopters going over on maneuvers and I stopped to say a prayer for all of those men and women who won't be home for the holidays with their families -- so that I can live here and be safe. I specifically remembered Jason, my friend Terri's husband, who has just been deployed -- again -- and Terri and her children who miss him terribly. Thank you to each of you who do what you do. It's small; it's words, but we truly appreciate you.

After the cookies began to be finished, we had to "test" some of the misformed/broken ones. Ellie became distraught that we didn't give her any, so I gave her a pinch. Let me just say, The Princess LOVES gingerbread cookies and ate quite a few of them. I'm going to try to post a video clip of her and Kevin -- funny stuff.

So, all in all, we had a great time. I hope there are many Christmas spirit moments in your family this season!! I think I'd rather have several more of those moments than any present anyone could give me.