“[The Son of God] towers above us, and yet the events surrounding His mortal birth draw from us a feeling of His being close to us. He chose to come down from his throne at the right hand of the Father to take upon Him mortality. He did it out of love for every son and daughter of His Father who would be born into the world. He did it out of love for you – and for me.
To have the spirit of Christmas, we must try to love as He loved. His words to you and to me are, “Love one another, as I have loved you.”
President Henry B. Eyring "The Spirit of Christmas"
Christmas Baking
One of my favorite parts of Christmas is all of the Christmas baking! It is fun to spend time in the kitchen with their sweet kiddos and just let the sprinkles go wherever they want! 😉
Winter Solstice
The changing of the seasons is a FAVORITE here in the Berning house! So the first day of winter falling just days before Christmas is special and just adds another layer of magic to Christmas week!
Christmas Piano Recital
Jacob and Sarah have been working hard preparing for their Christmas recital. Sarah played “Away in a Manger” and Jacob played “We Wish You a Merry Christmas“. They both did beautifully.
Christmas Eve
Ahhh…Christmas Eve! The night of nights! Mark got home from work in the early evening and he and the kiddos got to work decorating the sugar cookies for Santa! Christmas Eve is our fancier meal followed by the opening of our Santa’s Elves gift of Christmas jammies and a new Christmas book. This year we received The Nutcracker and read that along with the Nativity story. Sarah stayed up late with Mark and I as we got food prepared for the next day and laid our cookies and milk for Santa. She is such a sweetheart and my heart was particularly tender for her this Christmas.
Christmas Day
I love Christmas Day. There is absolutely ZERO agenda other than spending quality time with one another. Over the years we’ve nixed the fancy meal and we just spend TIME. It’s my favorite part. We spent the day playing and talking and enjoying all of the goodness of the day. The day ended with watching White Christmas having a picnic on the floor with homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese. Perfect day.
We are so grateful for the beauty of Christmas. It is a season like no other, where we focus more on those around us, just like the Savior did. Our kids are at such a magical age and it truly is a beautiful time.
Love, love the great photos.