Memory Lane

It's so fun to watch your little ones grow up. My two year old as been bringing me that joy lately, as she's learning to speak phrases like "okay, okay, you're right" (I've no idea where she got that from", or "I love you mommy".

She also moved onto pretend play. Her favorite is playing tea party. She loves to put on her big sister's princess dress and bring tea to all her stuffed animal friends.

Years ago we bought a tea party set for my oldest daughter, which now most of them are lost and handed down to her little sister. Just the other day, we made a trip out to IKEA to purchase a dresser for our Baby M and had found our toddler fascinated by their children's dinnerware (they're quite colorful). So we spent about $5 on the whole set and much to our surprise, they keep her entertained all day and sometimes even in her dreams (she says 'tee-partee!' in her sleep). It's even hard to get her out of the house because she has to pack them in her backpack to carry them wherever she goes.

But even in the midst of all this fun, there's nothing like how her face lighting up when I join the tea party with her. I can clearly see that she loves spending that play time with her mommy. Not only that, she seems to develop her verbal skills much faster.

What are your fondest childhood memories?

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about mine. Perhaps, it's just this time of year that's bringing back the memories of the past; the same memories that partly shaped who I am today. The ones I can remember the most is playing house or baking lots of goodies with my mother. And I realize, that what brought me most joy was not the latest trendy toys people had to fight over to buy, but rather from the heart, and time, of course.

We live in a society driven by materialism and it's so easy to forget the intangible things that actually matter. I hope and pray that in the midst of all the busyness of the holidays, we will all remember to spend that quality time with our loved ones, especially with our Heavenly Father who wants to create fond memories with us. After all, Christmas is all about our Daddy giving us the best gift of all to show us how much He loves us. I hope that you will give Him back the best gift of all.....you :)