Christmas 2011

We had a blessed and happy Christmas.  The best part for me was the new "giving" we did in Strider's family.  Instead of a sibling gift exchange with his brothers we adopted a 6 year old girl off a local Angel Tree and gave her a Christmas.

Here are my kids holding the toys and coat we got her.  She also had clothes and shoes and underwear on her list.  I took the generous donations of his family and mine and used my mad shopping skills to get the very best items I could for little Yisel.

I had many special experiences as I shopped for her.  One in particular was on Black Friday.  I had just the day before been given about $60 from Strider's family.  When I went to Old Navy with my purchases I handed over total to the cashier and there was an extra $10 bill in the envelope.  I have no idea how it got there.  I had personally counted the money a couple times Thanksgiving night.  I asked my sisters who were shopping with me and they denied knowing about it.  I guess it's just a simple, beautiful miracle.

Here we are on the way to the mall to drop off our loot. 

We will never know this little girl, but she made Christmas for us. We thought about her all the time, and lovingly and carefully picked things that we hope she'll love.  It was a great experience.


On a side note, even little Rosebud got in the habit of asking if "this gift was for 'Eesel'?" We watched the Sound of Music a few days ago and she heard the name "Liesl" and was sure it was our Eesel. :)

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas season!