My Favorite Things Link Up!

        Watch//Book//Candle//Shoes 

Christmas of 2012 left Lee and I feeling yuck.  We'd bought too much. 

 Our kids were overwhelmed with gifts.  It all started to feel unnecessary 

and quite frankly I was embarrassed.  That Christmas morning as I looked

 around our den, instead of feeling filled up, I felt empty and regretful.   

Fast forward to 2013.  

We decided to bring our focus away from the gifts and back to Jesus.  

We decided to focus on advent and preparing our hearts for Christmas. 

 We decided that as a family we could do more for others if we didn't 

ask for a lot of stuff for ourselves.   Instead of a making a Christmas list

 a mile long, we talked to our boys about keeping the list to four things...    

something you need, something to read, 

something to wear, and something to share.  

I'm not going to lie.  Last year {2013} was an adjustment, but 

something happened.  Our boys appreciated every single gift in a way 

I had not seen the year before.  They enjoyed watching others open

 their gifts and it was wonderful.  

Now, truth be told, Lee and I have not exchanged Christmas gifts 

for a few years now.  BUT if we were to exchange my four 

"need/read/share/wear" above would do the trick!