A Blessed Merry Christmas

I know it's been a good Christmas season when I get sad about taking down all the Christmas decorations.....this year must have been great, because, I even shed a tear.

Our Christmas Eve festivities were wild and crazy this year.  Before our nightly traditions were participated in, Barry stole me away for a nice lunch out....just the two of us!  What a super treat!

Back home I prepared our Bethlehem Dinner.  We ate on the floor near the tree,, and that must've been just too much excitement for these kiddos to uphold because the only time they were quite and sitting was when I took this picture.  The excitement of the night was nearly consuming them. 

Cailin as the angel, Connor was the inn keeper, Liam is Joesph and Delaney is Mary.  Ryan and Bree, well they just filled in any gaps as they came up!  Usually, as we come to this part in our traditions--acting out the story of Christ's birth. they get a little less stir crazy and more spiritual, but this year, they could barely control their excitement!   It really was fun to watch, but the noise was getting a bit overwhelming.....I think it's time for these silly ones to go to bed.  Of course I know they won't actually sleep, but at least we'll have some quiet for a bit of time.

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They were quite excited that they were able to get up at 5:30 this year.  Barry had to be off for work by 6:15 so opening presents time came early....I was told that this was one of the best years ever, in regards to the gifts Santa brought.  Santa got it right this year, hurrah!  Barry was called to a home where he heard one of the kids go off on the parents about how horrible his presents were....he came home so grateful for happy and thankful children.  ( he was called for another reason, but the 5 year old was continuing his rants of dissatisfaction in his presence.)


After all the gift unwrapping, Barry headed off to work and the kids and I headed off to Ben and Maleah's home for a country breakfast.  Ryan was quickly put to work setting up their new Xbox system.  I loved seeing him in his element.  All his insecurities vanished and he was in control of the situation.  Evening brought time with Granny and Papa, as they came over for dinner...and then the big day was over. 
My goal was to have a peaceful  calm and spirit filled Christmas season.  I think (with a few exceptions) obtain my goal.  I hope the others had a good Christmas too.

 
Cailin's thoughts: The Christmas Season, that is, before Christmas, was a little too busy for my taste. It was a lot of fun, though, going to the Christmas parties and such.
      Christmas Day was fabulous. We had a fun time laughing over receiving boxes that seemed to be only that--a box, but it wasn't, of course. I received a new soccer ball, three of my favorite series of books, a bookshelf (thank you!!!), some jewelry, and a little board to organize my hair clips and such.

Connor's thoughts on Christmas this year...Hmm, what to say? Christmas was good this year. It seemed to sneak up fast, but that's because I didn't really pay much attention to how close it was until a week before. The best present I got this year was The Illustrated-- A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking. It's a great book too. The youth did the usual gingerbread house building contest. Alan and I did D-day beach, with lots of mike and ike's and with licorice blood, a bunker, designed by yours truly, and a tank designed by Alan. That is the extent of it.


Ryan's thoughts-- Christmas was great yet at the same time just normal. I really liked getting the Temeraire books.

Ahhhh, these two couldn't be any cuter.

Barry's thoughts-- Too bad that the flower did nothing to enhance my looks. Oh well.  I enjoyed Christmas so much this year. I think that the secret to our success was not injecting the holiday season with needless stress. We cut back on a few things and also put a higher priority on family time. By doing this it made all the activities run so much smoother. It also helped us keep the spirit of Christ in our home.

 

Delaney thoughts--   It may not have snowed but it was the best Christmas because we had family and I was sad when it ended.

Liam's thoughts--  I liked it because I got a Captain America suit and I got a shield with it!  That is what I wanted.  I liked how we had the Bethlehem dinner.  I liked that because Laney was happy and all of us were happy.  That's all!

Pumpkin, Delaney and Cailin's kitten having fun playing in all the wrapping.

Bree loved the concept of unwrapping gifts!!  I don't know if we could get a way  with just empty boxes all wrapped up next year....but we sure could have this year!

Briannne got a kitchen play set this year....Liam's loving it quite a bit!!

She's is eating like a kitten....even since Pumpkin has started eating from a bowl on the floor Brianne has been quite intrigued by the way she eats.  She will get down flat on her tummy and watch him eat.  Now she's begun to eat like him too.  One day she even dropped all her food on the floor and then asked to get down.  Instead of just walking away, she fell to her tummy and started to eat.  It reminded me of the movie The Christmas Story....you know, the one "you'll shoot your eye out, one!"

Having fun playing in the Christmas snow....It's sad, I can't remember what day it snowed.  As I'm writing this in the 1 Jan. Christmas was only one week ago and I don't remember if it was Christmas day or the day after that the snow came....Nevertheless, they had a great time.

Delaney's still trying to get acquainted with her bike....and comfortable with it too.  She'll get there!  We'll soon have her riding all around with the wind in her hair!

Although he get cold quite fast, Liam loves to be out playing with the big kids!

Watch out super heroes....I have a couple of them myself!