Cookies, Christmas Music and Candles

It's Thursday, December 14 and the scent of holiday cookies baking fills the air. The Chieftains' Bells of Dublin Christmas CD is playing in the background and all my candles are lit. I love the lights of the Christmas season! Winter is so dark and colorless with all the cloudy weather and bare trees, but at Christmas time we put up bright lights and burn beautiful candles. It's like the light that Christ brought to this dark world, making cheerful celebrating possible. I hope you all are having a merry Christmas season and remembering the reason for all the lights and presents and hustle and bustle!

Around our home the days have been quietly slipping by. One day I think that time has been going slowly, but the next I realize that the year of 2006 is almost over. It's hard to believe that another year is drawing to a close and our little baby is almost one! Every day Joshua gets a little older, he gains new skills, and his movements become more coordinated and confident. Yet all of this maturation comes so gradually, it's hard to notice. I think he's on the verge of many things - walking, a new tooth, and getting into the cupboards while I cook in the kitchen - but he's not quite there yet. He has learned that going feet first off of furniture is safer than head first and he can make sound come out of recorders and whistles. Maybe he'll be able to blow out his first birthday candle; he hasn't yet managed to extinguish an advent candle, though we've been practicing!

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