Cute!

Lidiyanna brought down Graham's "big bear" which inspired an impromptu photo session by the Christmas tree. Aren't they so cute!!

Sweet Love

One of the activities I enjoy most during the holidays is baking. I love sweets, love to bake them, love to try new recipes, and love to eat them. My children share my love of sweets as well. I have great memories of helping my mom in the kitchen when I grew up and I still think about certain treats we made together at Christmastime.

To my delight, my boys have both taken an interest in helping me bake. Graham and I used to bake together during Wesley's naptime. Now, Wesley and I bake while Graham is at school and Lidiyanna is napping. I have a feeling Lidiyanna will have her turn helping me when she gets a little older.

A few years ago, we started packing up our treats and taking them to our neighbors as little gifts. The boys would sometimes make notes and cards to go along with the baked goods. They always seemed to enjoy the giving as much as the baking, and I've hoped that we passed along a little bit of love and kindness with each treat we gave away. I miss some of our dear neighbors from our Nashville home, and I thought about them today. Ms. Terry was across the street and always had little gifts and handmade cards for our children on special occasions. Alanna, next door, babysat our kids and would come over after school on days that she dreaded going to her empty house. The Keever kids, a few streets over, warmed our home on snow days when their mom had to brave the icy roads to get to work.

Now, we have new neighbors. We mainly interact with the ones we see on the playground after school. So, Graham packed cookies in a bag to take to his buddies, Mia, Josh, and Aaron. Wesley wrote a note to his friend, Karl, who is in his Junior Kindergarten class. We spent five or ten minutes getting on our coats, mits, and hats and made our way around the neighborhood delivering a little bit of love to go along with the cookies.

On a side note, I don't want anyone to read this and feel guilty that they don't like to bake or take cookies to their neighbors. Baking is not for everyone. (If it was, we might have a world full of overweight people.) Yet, I am sure everyone has special things that they enjoy and that they are good at. Take those gifts and passions and share them with others. That's what I want this post to be about...taking the passions that God has given you and blessing others through them.