Links

A Christmas tradition I had growing up was to make a chain to count down the days until Christmas morning. Eric (my brother) & I would each complete one sometime after Thanksgiving and then remove one of the links each day. As the chain became shorter I think we became wilder! Christmas has ALWAYS been my favorite time of year! I would usually be the one to wake up first on Christmas morning. Even as teenagers Eric & I would go jump on mom & dad's bed at 5:00 AM. Soooo I have a lot to look forward to as Luke catches onto the excitement, and I'll have to figure out how to get in bed before 3:00 am on Christmas Eve!!

This is the chain Luke helped Grammie make this year. It has stars and Bible verses!
Our new Christmas tradition is The Elf on the Shelf. Meet Link, our special messenger Santa sends to watch and see if Luke is naughty or nice. This year he just hung out on our bookshelf, but next year he will be on the move....every morning he will appear in a new place (after he returns from the North Pole). When I first saw this in the store, I thought it seemed silly. Then I heard of family after family that has loved it! Some elves are girls, some are mischief (like rolling the bathroom with toilet paper), and all elves have children jumping out of bed to hunt for them. I can't wait to see how creative Link will be at our house! (I didn't realize until I was writing this that both traditions are about Links. We picked that name since our elf is the link between Luke and Santa.)

Just so there's no mistaking :0): The real meaning of Christmas will ALWAYS be proclaimed first and foremost in our house! There is NOTHING that can compare to Jesus being born! He came to rescue us from our sins! This is the reason we celebrate! This is why Christmas is so wonderful! Santa, Link, Rudolph, and Frosty are fun, but they are not the ones we are worshipping.