We are Blessed!

This holiday season we had an amazing December. We were blessed to have received so much love that my heart was ready to burst during these past 25 days.

There could be so many reasons why our family received so much love and kindness. It could be that our bishop challenged everyone to pray and ask for a prompting on who needs your help right now. It could be that Heavenly Father knew that we were having a hard time this month. It could be that we have amazing people in our lives who love us. It could be that since we are being obedient to God's work he is blessing us..... I could go on and on....but I don't want too. I am just so thankful for everyone who showed our family love.

Our 1st blessing we had a bag dropped off at our doorstep one night filled with new church clothes for our kids.

Our girls just loved it so much. Being on a tight budget our kids hardly ever get anything brand new(mostly hand me downs) so to have new twirling dresses- this made their day. I was on the phone with my mom when we found this bag and we couldn't help but cry alittle.

 Mason had been given a  3 piece dress outfit but he wasn't digging the color so the Secret Santa left a note along with the receipt that said we could return/exchanged the clothes if we wanted too. After seeing my girls giggle in joy nothing was taken back EXCEPT Mason's things. We exchanged it for some boy items and we saved the rest so we could buy this stuff later.

Because this kid is going back to school. Starting after Christmas Break he'll be going to school with Hailey so he was in need of some back-to-school items.

Our second blessing was.... GIFTS!
One night our bishop came over and gave me 2 bags full of gifts along with some gift cards that I later used on groceries. He said that someone wanted to give them to us so I took the bags, thanked him, thanked God, and then cried. We've been recipients of gifts before but we've passed them on to other's that were in more need of them than we were. But this year Mike said that we should allow the blessing to our Secret Santa by keeping them. So we put them under the tree. As you can see everyone was so happy to have extra gifts.
(A Barbie, FurReal puppy, 2 baby dolls, 2 strollers, Lego set, a basketball door hoop, a pack of small Nerf guns, and a box of chocolate)

Third, we received a wonderful dinner from Mike's dad, Brent, and step mom, Patty, complete with side dishes and a delicious HoneyBaked ham. Since Christmas was too crazy with our late night  filled with last minute preparations I didn't cook it......YET! It's our New Years Eve dinner and honestly I can't wait. I love ham!

Fourth, my mom brought us some groceries. Since Mike had an error on his check we were short some cash. So our groceries were going to have to be cut short this week. But my mom offered to buy us some groceries. This was so great. I was given a budget and I could get whatever I wanted within this mild budget. I knew that I could get some things but not much. But through the prayer I said while driving to help me find what our family needs; my prayer was answered. The store that my mom works at has so much food marked down for no reason. Meats, gluten free flours, milk, cereal, etc. All was still within the selling dates and most still had 1-3 weeks on the dates. So I was able to get an entire cart full of items without coupons on her budget. I was so happy when I loaded these items into our van. God provided for our needs. How wonderful is that!

Last, we were given the privilege to have Christmas pixies do the "12 days til Christmas" on our family. Every night our Christmas pixies left a small gift like Chex Mix, fruit, art supplies, kitchen tools, etc along with a piece of a Nativity scene.

I remember telling a friend of mine at church that what kind of Mormon am I? I don't even own a Nativity scene. This was on my list to buy after Christmas but my answer came sooner.

On the first note our pixies asked for us to not peek or we might be frightened on who it is. It took everything in my power to not stare out my window. And there was a couple of times that our pixies must of been watching us. One night Mike had the garage door open while he was working on a woodworking project. When I called him in to say Good Night to our kids. The house door barely closed when he came inside when we heard our pixie's knock on the door to tell us that our gift has come. Mike thought he seen someone around the lamp post but then again never thought about it. So he went about this project. I can recall a time when Hailey and I were right by the door looking in our closet when we heard the knock. I went to open it since we've been getting treats from neighbors and I didn't want to be rude. But Hailey grabbed my hand and said, "Give them a chance to run." It was really sweet!

 On the 12th day of Christmas I knew it was all going to end. Our pixies gave us 12 days of love and kindness that we'll never forget. However I wanted to tell our pixies Thank you somehow without ruining the magic. So I left a Christmas card and a jar of homemade apple butter by our door for them to take on the last evening.

This holiday season we've never been shown so much love at one time. It was a true miracle for us to have been given so many wonderful gifts. The spirit of Christmas is really the spirit of Christ. And we felt it. We felt the spirit of love, kindness, mercy, gratitude this Christmas season. I will never forget this Christmas holiday