A savior who is Christ the Lord.”
I think Carlos said it best, “this was the best Christmas ever mommy.” And when I smiled he said, “I think I’ve said that every year, but I mean it!”
It did indeed feel like an extra special Christmas…..and God woke us up this morning to a beautiful snow falling gently to our bare ground. It was truly beautiful! And it snowed all day and is still falling tonight!
Because of their late night (thankfully) the kids slept until almost 8 this morning. But once they were awake they were reading to get with opening gifts! Stephen made me a cup of hot tea while Carlos and Jeremiah sorted out the gifts! Ben was so excited about opening gifts that he didn’t wait for everyone….but just started opening as soon as the first gift was in his pile!
It’s so fun to see who enjoys opening the gifts the most each year…..and interestingly enough, it always seems to be a different child! This was most definitely Ben’s year! He was SOOOOO excited and really got involved…..and TOTALLY loved his gifts!
Since Ben had helped himself in opening his gift, Natalie got to go “officially” first. I was so excited about Natalie’s big gift this year…..the fabulous dollhouse I found at a yard sale last summer. And I was even more excited when she told my brother Lee on the phone earlier this week, “I want a dollhouse for Christmas.” I just couldn’t wait for her to open that gift, but of course that one waited until last! Natalie did not disappoint, she was super excited with her house and all the little dolls and furniture.
We bought all three boys a musical instrument. We got Ben a guitar and he was SO happy with his red guitar. Several weeks ago I threw away Carlos’ old guitar because it was down to one sting and the back was falling off……poor Ben was devastated. He loved plucking that lone string and toting that old guitar around the house. Jeremiah was very pleased with his keyboard and even thanked me several time today for giving it to him. Carlos received a small drum set…..which he loved.
Carlos’ big gift this year was an MP3….which he calls his ipod touch!
Our Santa is a little too poor to bring an ipod touch to a 9 year old! We also got Carlos several CDs of his favorite artists…..including Toby Mac! And an adapter for his MP3 to plug into his drum set! Once Stephen loaded the music, Carlos was bopping around the house with his ear buds and MP3.
Jeremiah’s big gift was an Imagnext aircraft carrier. It came fully loaded with little men with diving suites and two airplanes. I’m really not sure which Jeremiah liked more, his keyboard, aircraft carrier or new gloves! He was so excited to get new gloves. Sometimes it’s hard to “read” Jeremiah, but given the amount of times he thanked me and Stephen I’m pretty sure he was not disappointed with his gifts.
Going back to Ben. That boy was so happy with all of his gifts! But I’m pretty sure he liked his bath robe best of all! Last year all of the big kids got robes for Christmas and recently Ben started asking Carlos if he could wear Carlos’ robe…..it’s a least twice as tall as Ben! And I knew he really wanted a robe. I just had no idea how much. Ben opened the package with his robe and immediately put it on and has not taken it off all day…..in fact he is sleeping in it tonight! He’s a mess! Ben has on footed PJs, a robe, his new slippers and his new gloves! At least he will stay warm tonight when he kicks off the covers!
The whole day we spent together, just our family and it was nice. The kids all enjoyed playing with their new toys. I had already made most of breakfast, so there was not very much cooking to be done. I made homemade poptarts as a special treat! They were so yummy. We did not eat breakfast until well after 10 am, so we skipped lunch and had croissants with roast beef, fresh veggies, pineapple and chips for dinner. It was the BEST Christmas dinner! Not much cooking needed, but tasted great.
And that’s the LONG version of our Christmas day celebration!
House of Smooches 