1. Jillian's First Christmas!
I want to start of by noting that this Christmas was the FIRST for our sweet Jillian! She was just the sweetest, most easy-going little thing the whole time and with all the excitement surrounding Drew and Susanna (school parties, Santa, Buddy our Elf, presents to open, etc.) it would have been easy to just bring her along for the ride but I was determined that we remember this first Christmas of hers!
We love this girl!
(blurry kisses from mom and dad)
I'm so thrilled that she is in our family and that we were able to have her with us this year since last year she was growing big in my tummy and making me eat pineapples all the time! It has been the fastest year of my life...hands down.
2. 25 Days of Christ
I just finished reading a book called Candy Canes & Christmastime and in one of the stories/essays the author talks about how hard it is to compete with other mom's these days, especially moms that are christians, because of the guilt trip associated with focusing more on Santa/Elves on the Selves/pinterest/presents/etc and not as much on Christ. I find this to be true and honestly don't find anything wrong with all those things but since we have had kids, I have felt immense responsibility to remember Christ all year long and even more so at Christmas. Last year our Elf brought us scriptures to read every night and since our elf didn't always remember to fly back to the north pole each night and move to a new spot in our house, I felt like I was scrambling to find which scripture we would read that night for family scripture time. This year Mike's aunt gave us the 25 Days of Christ ornament kit and this will be a tradition we continue. You can learn more about it here. The kids loved opening a new ornament each night and I loved the scripture and church magazine references for each. I felt like it was for me just as much as it was for them and I needed that.
3. Elf of the Shelf
You either love the elf of the shelf or hate him/her! I've noticed this more this year than ever before and while we were given our elf of the shelf, I am ok with it. He's forgetful, as I've mentioned, but the kids just love it. Is it one more thing to worry about? yes. Is it one more thing that takes away from a Christ-centered Christmas? one can argue either way. I don't think it does that for us but this year, Drew has so many questions about ours, that I felt myself struggling to come up with answers for him. I felt guilty about it too because he is so analytical but he trusts me so if I say it, then it must be true. I quickly got uncomfortable in my deceit and am seriously considering this year our last for Buddy. Any advice or input on the matter would be greatly appreciated.
4. Opening gifts
The kids have been more excited this year than previous ones (which I am sure will just continue in the coming years) and because we were planning to be gone for about a week after Christmas, Mike and I decided to let them open their gifts from us and each other on Christmas Eve Eve. This way they could play with their new things all day Christmas Eve and open gifts from Santa Christmas morning and not be quite as sad to leave their loot behind for the next 6 days. It made sense to me and it worked out really great! My plan was to focus more on the person giving the gift than the person receiving it (each of our kids give a gift to the others) to emphasize giving rather than getting, but this Christmas Eve Eve Susanna was running a fever and it just didn't go like it was intended to. Next year, though! I took plenty of video but not many pictures of that night. I did have to take Susanna to get tested for the flu and thankfully she was negative...positive for strep but after a penicillin shot, she was good to go!
We might carry on the Christmas Eve Eve gift-opening, depending I guess on our holiday schedule, but I mostly liked it because it allowed us to focus on the Savior for Christmas Eve.
5. Christmas Eve at HOME with the missionaries.
This year is the third year we have stayed home for Christmas Eve, just us and the kids, with the missionaries over for dinner. We had already opened our gifts so there was no focus on getting anything. We made cookies for Santa and we watched the Nativity video put out by our church. It is the best way, for our family, to keep the Savior as our focus as we think about His birth so long ago on that cold winter night. Christmas Eve for me is becoming a favorite around here...I just love the simplicity.
6. Mike and I and gift-giving
I'm sure we aren't the only ones, but it is so hard around Christmas to justify many gifts for ourselves. If there is something we need or want, most of the time we can get that item any time of the year and since we are spending so much money on gifts/gas/food/etc, in December already, we tend to not want to get each other anything big. We talked about this last night and have decided that next year, we are going to set aside 2 time slots, one for Mike and one for me, to go shopping for one another without the other. The gifts don't have to cost lots of money but this would allow for more thought and purpose.
So those are my thoughts, and as I reflect on our last 2 weeks I can't help but be filled with gratitude (something I hope to develop more throughout 2015) for all of life, the good and the bad. I am so thankful for my family and for this time of year that brings us closer together as we strive to grow closer to Christ. He is my Savior and Redeemer and His birth is definitely to be celebrated. How marvelous that night must have been for those who anticipated His coming and how amazing Mary must have felt as she help Him in her arms. What a special, beautiful time! I cannot describe how full my heart feels as I have contemplated these things and shared in the love of Him with my family. Just awesome...
Doesn't this picture look crazy and blurry?! A lot like how that morning was opening gifts at my moms! Those grandkids sure got some great stuff!
Christmas pancakes the morning of Christmas Eve Eve
Christmas morning at our house Skyping with Honey & Paw Paw in Russia and checking out what Santa left in our stockings!
Billy made my mom this Jenga game as his gift to her and it was pretty dang cool! We were all pretty nervous for it to fall over though!
Susanta ;)
for a pretty stationary baby, it was hard to get one where she wasn't flailing her hands around! Jillian got some serious attention this Christmas, for sure.
Me and my brothers in Texas at my mom's family's christmas! So fun!
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