It's all about Jesus

We won't be home for Christmas this year, so we decided against setting up a tree (at least, as of now we decided against it).

I have a growing collection of nativity sets, though, so I did set them up. David and I used a day of our break to put on the Christmas music, clean off the shelves, and put the nativities and a few decorations up.

Outside we put up a lit nativity with a lit cross behind it.

Inside, this is what I put up:

 A little nativity ring dish from a previous student.

 Another nativity box from a previous student (I believe).

 A nativity lamp that I found at a thrift store (two matching ones still in their boxes, one for me, one for my mom).

 Another nativity (that lights up) from a previous student, plus a book about the very first Christmas.

 A small nativity that we bought in Colombia, as well as a small figurine nativity from a student.

  Two tiny, tiny nativities from Colombia (left) and from Spain (right)

 A nativity that one of my Guatemala team members bought for me in the airport in Guatemala.

 The nativity set that I grew up with that my mom passed on to me.

. Another miniature nativity craft that I made with my mom a few years back. It's a little box that looks like a gift, and on the top it says, "The World's Greatest Christmas Gift".

 My annual "Jesus" tree, a small lit-up tree covered in ornaments with a variety of the different names of Jesus.

And this year, I am going through a devotional that my friend gave me, specifically on the names of Jesus. 

Christmas is all about Jesus. The more we seek Him, the more we find Him. The more we find Him, the more we see that nothing else can even begin to compare. 

My Christmas motto

If I learned anything this year, it's this: Memories are far more priceless than material things. Memories live on forever and sometimes feel even warmer and richer with time.

Our family spent a lot of time apart this year for various reasons, so we never did get to take a trip together, just the four of us.

With the airline voucher we got after we were unable to get Julian's ticket to Spain worked out, we had enough money in the voucher for all four of us to go somewhere within a year. A blessing in disguise, I guess. After looking at all we've got going on with school, work, soccer, etc., we figured Christmas made the most sense logistically.

The boys agreed that we'd save our money to enjoy our vacation together and skip the gifts this year. Instead, I'm spending all my time finding hotel deals, rental car deals, and planning fun stuff to do. Feels weird not shopping and picking up gifts here and there, but I will have to say that I like the mentality and the shift in focus. Memories will last forever.

Stay tuned after Christmas to see where we end up going and what all we end up doing. :) We're narrowing down ideas for activities, and tonight's ideas got me pretty excited.

I made a free photo calendar with an offer on Shutterfly, and this is one of my favorite pages on the calendar. This year my Christmas motto is to collect moments, not things.