Greetings to all, we hope you are well,
We’ve had quite a year, sit back and we’ll tell.
It’s usually best to begin at the start,
But this year the last is dear to the heart.
December has brought loads of new fun,
A tiny new baby is Joy number one.

Piper Josephine got here in fine style,
She’s perfectly pink and brings all a smile.
Twenty-one inches, and a head full of hair,
Seven pounds and six ounces, blue eyes in a pair.
She came on the twenty-fifth of November,
And we’re praising God for our newest member.

Next in line from bottom to top,
Natalie is our sweet little girl who won’t stop.
She’s wild and silly, she lights up our days.
Oh, she can be naughty, she has her ways!
But we love her dearly, our Nattie Lou,
She’s funny and sunny and…… she’s nearly two.

Then comes our big girl who’s now all of four.
Gabriella is her mama’s helper for sure!
She loves to bake cookies and color and draw.
She also loves reading her books with her Pa.
Soon she’ll be doing school with her brothers,
Learning her letters and numbers and others.

Max is our almost six year old boy.
He loves his books and his music and toys.
Max plays piano, Jingle Bells is his fav.
But other songs, too, can cause him to rave!
He keeps it lively at home and away,
Jumping and cartwheeling all through the day.

Trent is our oldest, He’s ten and two months.
Unlike our Maxer, he’s not into stunts.
He draws with the best of them, loves painting, too.
He also builds legos to make a whole zoo.
Trent’s growing and learning to be more like Jesus.
There’s nothing else that could ever more please us.

Steve is still working the old eight to five.
Teaching band on the side, just to keep it alive.
At home, Steve is busy with projects galore,
And with his five children, life is no bore.
He’s growing in Grace day after day.
Becoming an oak in his faith all the way.

As for the mama – I do what I do.
Teaching piano and other stuff too.
God has been teaching me in many ways.
I’m learning to lean on Him every day.

Our tiny new baby this Christmas season
Makes us remember that Jesus’ reason
To come to the Earth from His Glory above
Had everything to do with His Love.
Not just His love, though, It’s all for His glory
The Father created a Redemptive Story!

Merry Christmas to you from all of the Shell’s.
Enjoy all the twinkling lights and the bells.
But keep Christ in Christmas,
without Him you’ll find,
A day without meaning of any kind.