Luke 2:10-11, 18-19 “And the angel said to them (the shepherds), “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord……… And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.”
These verses envelopes my feeling this Christmas. I look at the good gifts that God has given me and I treasure them, pondering them in my heart and my good gifts are nothing like the amazing news the angel was bring to the shepherds (and later told to Mary) on that day many years ago…..”today is born to you a Savior who is Christ the Lord”……the most amazing gift ever given.
Our Christmas celebration officially started last night at the Christmas Eve service. My favorite part of the service is the end when we sing Silent Night with candles lit…..beautiful! The kids were, of course, very excited……chattering wildly all the way to and from church. Even Jadyn, who I am sure does not remember any Christmas past, but I’m guessing she just picked up on the excitement and went with it!
When we got home we l
et the kids open their Christmas Eve gift (socks) before we even had dinner. I love how thankful my kids are for simple gifts. Several times during the evening one of my kids came up and expressed thanks for their socks! Love that!!
You can see by the sock on Jeremiah’s foot why socks were the gift this year…..hehe
Dinner did nothing to abate the excitement, getting their pillows, sleeping bags and blankets did nothing to abate the excitement, settling down (yeah right) did nothing to abate the excitement!! But finally PJs were on, teeth brushed (yeah, I’m pretty sure we forgot that part, haha, what a bad mama), and all pets were arranged. The kids were ready for the annual Christmas Eve sleep out on the living room floor. This year was special for Jadyn since she is finally old enough to also sleep in the living room. Stephen settled down in the middle of the kids to read The Prince’s Poison Cup. This is one of my favorite trad
itions. After reading it took the kids almost an hour to finally all fall asleep, but I think they were all in dream land by 10:30. Stephen took one for the team and sleep out on the couch with the kids……he’s such a great Papa!
Thankfully the late night also meant sleeping in a bit, so the kids didn’t start waking up until about 7:00. We started our morning with reading the birth story of Jesus. And then it was time for gifts.
Ben and Jeremiah asked last night if we could do gifts different and open them all at the same time……I promptly said “no, opening them one at a time allows us to participate in the joy of someone else getting a gift.” And so, Jadyn started by opening her first gift.
Jadyn — I was SO excited about Jadyn’s gift this year. My Jade girl loves babies. She loves dollhouses. 
She will sit and play with a simple doll for hours (ok, perhaps hours is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point) And so about a month ago I went on a quest to find a Loving Family dollhouse for her. After a few failed attempts I finally found one on Craigslist for her……it came filled with furniture, a car and dolls. And she did not disappoint……sh
e LOVED her gift. As soon as the blanket came off (it was way too big to wrap in wrapping paper) she exclaimed, “wow, new house!!” Oh and the two packs of gum ranked a quick second to the dollhouse.
Benjamin – I’m not sure if Ben was more excited about his gifts or for Jadyn about her gifts!
His two favorite gifts were his Imaginex dinosaur and his Despicable Me coloring book. Onc
e we finally got his dinosaur out of the packaging he really got excited.
Natalie – By far, her favorite gift was the camera!! Natalie has been saving her money for months to buy a camera. Natalie is a very responsible 6 year old, so Stephen and I decided that since she had been so diligent to save her money that we would buy a camera as her big gift.
I’m pretty sure she filled up about half the 16gb memory card today. The very first picture she wanted to take was one with the whole family……love that!!
Yep, that’s us…..CRAZY
Jeremiah – I supposed each Christmas someone is disappointed and this
was Jeremiah’s year. Poor kid, learned a hard lesson. During the Christmas season my closet is off limits. This is a well known and well advertised fact. At the beginning of December, Carlos went snooping in the closet and then told the other kids what he found. Jeremiah decided to see for himself, investigated the contents of the closet and then promptly “told” on himself by dropping hints about how much he loves playing with Matchbox Cars, how he hoped he would get a Matchbox Car track for Christmas, etc. So we decided this was the perfect time for lesson teaching. Jeremiah did not get a Matchbox Car track for Christmas and boy was he disappointed, but I don’t think he will be snooping again!!
He did get a pocket knife and his favorite gift was an art set with a ton of art supplies.
Carlos – While he tries to be cool, too cool to enjoy Christmas, Carlos really LOVES getting gifts! 
His favorite gift this year was those really big head phones that are back in style! And they came just in time since he broke his ear buds just this week!! He also got some new (HUGE) snow boots and now he’s just waiting for the snow to go with them. And I think a very close third was the itunes card!! Yep, he’s practically a teenager.
After all the unwrapping was done, the kids played with their new toys and I made waffles. We spent a lovely day talking/chatting with long distance family and then my Mom and brother Matt came over for dinner and we had a great time visiting with them and playing with new toys some more!
As I watched my children opening their gifts and enjoying the traditions that this Christmas season has brought I am keenly aware that these moments are quickly passing. I look at my children, who are no longer babies, and I treasure these moments, these sweet moments of joy and together-ness. I treasure the loud excited chatter. I treasure the excitement that simple lights bring to little faces. I treasure these gifts that God has given into my care.
House of Smooches 