Merry Christmas Times FOUR!!!!

This year Nathan and I have had quite the Christmas! We have felt and truly been so blessed by so much time with family and by soaking up the true meaning of the season--Jesus Christ has come. All of you have probably thought of this, but I have been really taken by a certain fact this year moreso than any other year...God came as an infant. He is so mighty, He decided to demonstrate His power inasmuch that He came as the most vulnerable of beings. That is God's power.

"For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everylasting Father, Prince of Peace. His ever expanding, peaceful government will never end. He will rule forever with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David. The passionate commitment of the LORD Almighty will guarantee this!" Isaiah 9:6-7

Thus far, we have had four Christmas celebrations. Number one was with my Mom at my sister's apartment. So fun! Number two was the traditional Bailey Christmas with all of my Mom's relatives on Christmas Eve! Number three was the Smith Christmas on Christmas Day with my husband's family. The fun just keeps going! And number four was/is here in New Jersey with my Dad, brother Christopher and his girlfriend Jenn, and sister Jennifer with her boyfriend Jake, and my Dad's bride-to-be Kris (Nathan is here, too:-)! Here is at least one picture from each gathering until I can update more. Enjoy!

This is my Mom and my sister, Jennifer, at her (Jenn's) precious apartment. We posed in front of her real tree. Such a lost art!These are my beautiful cousins: Lauren, Bridgette, Kate, & my sis Jennifer is on the far right. I love these girls! Merry Christmas girls!

The Smith family in a horse carriage on the Fayetteville Square! It was so fun! From left to right: Phillip, Laurie, me, Hannah, and Nathan...It was an enchanting Christmas evening!

Here are some of the 'Christmas in New Jersey' decorations. That's right folks, 8 stockings...Dad, Kris, Jennifer, Jake, Christopher, Jenn, Nathan, and me! That's a full house for Christmas! Yeah for everyone being able to be here for Christmas and the upcoming wedding!!!

Here is their pretty tree. I'm not sure if you can tell from my picture, but perched throughout are cute little birds as well as beautiful feathers and seasonal berries. At the top are the two love-birds. How symbolic. :-)

Speaking of love birds...here are Dad and Kris in Central Park. Friday, the whole gang took a trip into New York City to see the sights. Between the 8 of us, we saw everything (not in detail) from the Empire State building, to Trump Tower, Rockefeller Center, Ground Zero, to Time Square, to Central Park! We had a blast!!! (*Again, I'll post more pics later. :-))

I just love this picture of Kris and me. Isn't she precious?!?!? We are so excited and blessed to welcome this lovely, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle...well, I'm just pretty sure that the whole scripture was written about her! Most of all she loves the Lord and she loves our Dad, so we think we'll keep her! The best part is, they're getting married tomorrow, Sunday December 30th. That also happens to be my Dad's birthday. So we celebrated a little early tonight since tomorrow will be full of wedding festivities. YEAH!!! Happy Birthday, Dad! And, Happy Wedding, Dad and Kris! I love you both & God Bless You!