A Too Barbie Tree

My Mom has a special tradition of buying each of her grandchildren an ornament each year on Christmas. This way when they move out they will have a good collection of ornaments to have on their own Christmas trees. Isn't that wonderful? Well, because I have four girls, most of the ornaments we get are Barbies. I love them, they are really beautiful. And they are taking over the tree. So the other night, Danielle and I were sitting in the living room together looking at the tree and I made a casual statement, not really meaning it too much. You know, when whatever is in your mind just goes out your mouth? And I said, "We just have a way too Barbie tree." And so you know what Danielle says back to me? "Well Mom, one of these days they will all be gone and you won't have to worry about it."
It still brings tears to my eyes when I think about it. Now every time I look at the Barbies I will love them and cherish them because I know that it means all my children are still home with me. Literally every time we all sit down to eat dinner I cherish it, because I know the time is fleeting. The days when I will have all four of my children around the table with me are numbered. And I know that when they begin to leave home, there will be all kinds of other wonderful things to cherish and be thankful for but for now I am going to do my best to treasure each moment. They are so precious to me! What a blessing from God. I don't want to take my family for granted even for one second!

Aren't they lovely?