This Christmas

Washington is beautiful! My family is beautiful! I just wanted to share a little bit about my trip, funny family things that have happened, and what I have been learning.
1. We have seen snow! But, we had to drive about 25 minutes up into the mountains. The weather reports have been promising snow for days now and all we have seen is ice. Ice is slippery and often fun, but not snow. When it says it will rain, it rains. We are still glued to the window in anticipation. Maybe tonight is the night!

2. Sisters are wonderful. They can also be a curse : ). I am joking about that last part. I don't want to get too emotional but I will say this...I am so proud of them. I had to accept that they might not be exactly who I wish they were or think it would be best for them to be. But they are who the Lord desires for them to be and I trust Him. They have made the best of a new town and are becoming Godly and wise (well wiser ha ha) young women.

3. I will never forget this Christmas Eve. We went to the service at my parent's wonderful church and the pastor reflected on the Lord's beauty and what a gift it is that we can see it. I came to a very important conclusion: His beauty is ALIVE! The Lord's beauty is like the many faces of a diamond. He turns and moves and His light reflects and shines a new facet of His glory. I am contunially learning new things about Him and His ever present beauty.

4. Christmas morning was a blast. Allison has mentioned nothing for the last few days but the IPod Nano that she wants. Really, if my parents hadn't bought it for her I would have done it myself...just to shut her up. But we did get her one and decided to wrap it in about 6 boxes. It was so fun watching her got more and more irritated as she opened it. My Dad (always trying to be funny) said that he has something much worse than wrapping it multiple times.
"Like what?" Allison asked.
"I will tell you in a minute." He said.
"That means he will tell you when he thinks of something." Abigail piped in.
Classic Thomson moment. Dad trying to be funny and getting called on his bluffs. We then sat down to eat our traditional Christmas breakfast: cinnamon rolls and "little smokies"...delightful.