Surrounded By Love

Home from work...DANG it's cold outside. Massey just got home from practice and Tim just left for work. Zach is in his room and TJ is upstairs watching TV. Just me and my pups sitting around the computer. These crazy dogs follow me from room to room and if I sit at my computer for three hours so will they. They are 300 pounds of pure love and give me comfort whenever I need it. As my husband says "They LOVE their Mama."

I am thinking about baking some more cookies and starting my Christmas cards. Last year my sister gave me four packs of cards made by the kids at her church that didn't sell at a bazaar and I put them up in a drawer. I can barely afford the stamps so having the cards came in real handy...not to mention that they are precious cards. To me anything made by a child is precious.

My favorite Christmas decorations are the ones my kids made when they were young. Let's start when Zach was in kindergarten (the first time.)

He brought home a note he had written to Santa on the computer in his classroom. The teacher let the kids write them alone with no corrections and it remains one of my favorite things he ever wrote. You can click on the photo of it above to see it enlarged but it reads:

Dear Santa,

I wot a sake and a cat and a dog and a vochr and 99 pokmoncos and a ho bch ov sochrs. Pis brig me thes tois.

love Zach

Now let me decipher his code for you.

"Dear Santa, I want a snake and a cat and a dog and a Vulture and 99 Pokemon cards and a whole bunch of soldiers. Please bring me these toys. Love, Zach"

The next year (his second try at kindergarten) the kids wrote what they would give to the world. This is when Zach started to turn into the boy he is today...a thinker that always surprises me, sometimes disappoints me but always makes me proud. His letter read:

"My Gift to the World

If I could give the world any present this is what I would give. I would give money to the poor. I would give homes to the poor. I would give clothing to the poor. I would give caring to the Talaban. That is what I would give the world. Zach Cotton"

Granted he spelled Taliban wrong but it struck me that this young man had it right... we don't care enough about the poor and if only the Taliban knew the true sense of the word "Caring" instead of focusing on "attacking" it would be a better world.

I have ornaments and banners and pictures framed with Popsicle sticks. These are some of my most prized possessions.

Christmas is coming and the goose ain't gettin' fat but I feel content. I have three kids that love me three dogs that adore me , a wonderful husband and a family that supports me like a steel beam.

Massey and I are going to the Farmer's Market in Forest Park on Saturday... it may be a Charlie Brown tree but we are bringing one home. That will be our gift to the family

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Hope every one has a great Christmas and looks around them to see what love truly looks like. I know that I am surronded by it and it is a warm and comforting feeling.

Til next time...COTTON