Elsa celebrates her first birthday!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>Let me introduce my friends here to one of the most precious joys of my life: my niece Elsa Beatrice<\/strong>.<\/p>\nThe first girl baby born to my family in her generation (after enough boys that we\u2019d given up<\/em>), she\u2019s been the pride and joy of our family. This past weekend, little Elsa celebrated her first birthday. Her aunties wished from afar that they could be present for the celebration. Gratefully, Elsa\u2019s mommy is a top notch photographer who immediately shared several beautiful photos of the big day. Not the same thing as being there, but it\u2019s impossible to look at this photo and not imagine the joy of that party.<\/p>\nI have similar photos of my own boys \u2014 now young adults \u2014 at that same age and covered with the same amount of sugar. And perhaps the \u201cGive the one year old full access to as much frosting as he\/she desires and then grab cute photos<\/em>\u201d tradition holds true in your home. It\u2019s one of the few moments when a mom doesn\u2019t yell, \u201cNo!\u201d<\/strong><\/em> or even suggest, \u201cDon\u2019t you think you\u2019ve had enough?<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\nLooking at little Elsa scooping up the sweetness took my mind to one of my favorite Psalms:<\/p>\n
How sweet to my tongue is your promise,
\nsweeter than honey to my mouth!
\nPsalm 119:103\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nAnd today I\u2019m asking myself why I don\u2019t indulge more frequently in the things that bring me pure joy<\/strong>: moments of silence, lingering hours of reading, time before the Blessed Sacrament, long walks just for fun, coffee with my girlfriends or even the simple satisfaction of snuggling on the couch with my hubby and doing nothing. We get so busy in the \u201cto do<\/em>\u201d lists of life that the blissful times fly past us all too often.<\/p>\nIn the weeks leading up to Advent, I plan to take my cues from little Miss Elsa. I\u2019m going to dive in to every possible moment of sweetness and make the most of them. I\u2019m going to get good and sticky with the pleasures of this time of the year, and leave the evidence all over my face so that everyone else knows how happy I am and wants the same for themselves. Yes, it might be messy. Certainly, it will be memorable.<\/p>\n
I love you little Princess Elsa! Happy Birthday!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nAuntie Lisa<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let me introduce my friends here to one of the most precious joys of my life: my niece Elsa Beatrice. The first girl baby born to my family in her generation (after enough boys that we\u2019d given up), she\u2019s been the pride and joy of our family. This past weekend, little Elsa celebrated her first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[76,119,30],"class_list":["post-489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-life","tag-advent","tag-elsa","tag-family"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>