For me, each Christmas seems to bring even more of a thankfulness of Christ's first coming and a longing for his second coming when, "He will wipe every tear from [our] eyes. There will be no death or mourning or crying or pain." Revelation 21:4. What a hope! What a promise!
In the meantime, we find joy in celebrating our Savior's birth together here in this imperfect world. The kids and I woke up before 6am, but stayed quiet until then. Then we tiptoed to the living room where Micah took the Jesus doll from its pocket and put him in the manger. Micah knew in November that it was his year to have this honor and reminded me of it daily until I had the schedule printed that proved this to be the case.
Then we unwrapped our very last Christmas book. It turned out to be The Little Drummer Boy, which is just the words to the carol with pictures; we all sang through the book together. This was a very precious and sweet start to the day: one kid on my lap, one on either side, and all us of singing softly. Soon Isaac wandered out and we all opened our stockings.
Usually we have a Christmas morning service at church at 7am, but since Christmas fell on a Sunday the time was scooted up to 8am. It was a little hard to sit around and wait but we made it! Outside it was frosty, our own white Christmas, and so pretty!
Our church is super small and often the only kids there are mine and my sister's. Pastor Bruce often reads them a book during the Christmas morning service. This year only Emery went up to join him, then one by one the others went up too (except Micah). Even Ezra went up and distracted us all with his cuteness.
Cousin picture by the church's Christmas tree!
It was Buster's 1st Christmas! He got a can of his favorite food.
And he tried to attack everything.
We're saving up for a new house and so we cut back on spending on Christmas gifts this year. The kids knew this and some found it a bit hard, but everyone had a good attitude on Christmas day, and we felt it was good for them, and I LOVED it. I don't want Christmas to be about the presents anyway and always want to get way less than Isaac does.
Natalie had worked hard to make things on her own for me and Isaac and wanted those to be the first gifts opened! She made her daddy a reversible picture in a frame and she made me a yarn wall hanging.
The kids got books (mostly used), a jump rope and Frisbee to share, and a few other gifts, like gel pens and headphones for Natalie, a programming book and laptop battery for Evan, and a Perplexus Epic for Micah. Isaac got an older video game for the boys that they all played together.
There was still plenty of mess!
We went over to my parents' house for lunch. Mom had packed each family a basket of goodies.
More pictures by the tree.
We draw names, kids and adults, and everyone gives and gets one gift. Then Mom and Dad usually get some other things for everyone too.
A blanket for the new baby that matches the kids' pajamas!
After lunch and presents, there was plenty of time to visit and play with new toys and games.
Oh my goodness, Michelle had drawn my name and gave me this super special mug that says, "Sisters make the best friends" and has three pictures of us three sisters, and which I used right away for hot tea.
And she also gave a clip-on lens set for my phone with wide-angle, fish-eye, and macro lenses, that I LOVE. I went right out and took pictures of the aphids on Mom's roses, which she was horrified about, but which the rest of us thought were pretty cool. Look at the baby one!
Dad made us all wooden ornaments on the scroll saw from rare woods.
Baby selfie and the peppermint ice cream Natalie and I made for dessert.
Finally, ALL of us at Christmas dinner. I don't know why I have that look on my face - ha!
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