Kidd's Ring

May God make your year a happy one! Not by shielding you from all sorrows and pain But by strengthening you to bear it, as it comes; Not by making your path easy, But by making you sturdy to travel any path; Not by taking hardships from you, But by taking fear from your heart; Not by granting you unbroken sunshine, But by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows; Not by making your life always pleasant, But by showing you when people and their causes need you most,and by making you desirous to help. God's love, peace, hope and joy to you for the year ahead. - Anonymous -

We finally have our Christmas tree up and decorated!  I love having one and wish we had gotten one sooner.  Next year, we'll have to be better at that.  It's so fun pulling out the Christmas tree decorations and remembering where they were bought or who they are from.  Plus I forget how pretty they are!  I realized again this year how much I love our ornaments.  The big questions when decorating the tree is do you start with the big ornaments and then add small ones or start small then go big or just do whatever you want.  What do you do? Felix's sister picked out the tree for us ... it's rather full at the bottom and not so at the top, but still pretty.  I'm excited about using the tree skirt my mom and I made last Christmas ... speaking of last Christmas, that's when I started to get super sick with the little Miss and now she's here celebrating her first Christmas with us!  So fun! 

Sorry once again for being so MIA ... but I have a really cute reason for it. Z is growing and growing and learning lots and lots!  It's so fun to see her learn new things.  All the sudden she can master things!  Truly amazing!  On Sunday, we had the privilege of my dad being able to do her baby dedication.  It was such a sweet time together.  I'm so thankful that my parents live so close that they hop on over for a weekend and experience special events with us.  I wish that were the case for the rest of the family...one day we'll all be together again.  Can't wait for that family reunion {whether mountains or beach, both will be wonderful - that's been discussed these past few days}!! Hubby has been working lots and performing with the choir at various Christmas events.  I've missed having him around, but having time to myself has been a little nice, too.  He's been good at trying to make up for it though and coming home earlier or taking a day off he