Friday, December 30, 2016

Christmas Day

I had to get myself together to be ready for Christmas morning, in light of Christmas Eve. I slept well, but woke up tired and one of my first thoughts was hoping that Mom still felt better. My concern was that the medicine would wear off and she would be back to where she was. I didn't even text Dad. I put it aside and focused on my family. (Patting myself on the back. lol)

The children and I woke up at 7 and Daddy told the children they could wake him up at 8:30. So by the time I was getting texts from friends asking how my Christmas was--we were just starting to open gifts! I tell the children it is Daddy's job to make them wait and almost die of anticipation on Christmas morning. My Dad did the same thing to us!

Honestly, I didn't feel that great about how our gift giving went. It was more children directed than parent directed. The age differences in the children really showed. Once Isaiah opened one gift he wanted to open ALL the gifts and the concept of this is yours, but the other ones are not was difficult.

Aliza, Josiah and Anna wanted to GIVE their gifts to each other first. There were lots of hugs.
Anna picked out a Nerf gun for Josiah and Josiah picked out the same Nerf gun for Isaiah. That was pretty cute to watch unfold. You should see Isaiah run around with Josiah.

I try not to make a big deal about what we give our children for Christmas, but this time I'm making an exception. There was only one thing that Aliza REALLY wanted. It was the most popular toy this year and not to be found in stores anywhere--a Hatchimal. We told her that we would not be able to get that for her, but it might be a possibility for her birthday in March. She didn't fuss, but there really wasn't anything else that she got very excited about. I didn't know what I was going to do until one morning Jeremy called me. He said, "I bid on a Hatchimal on ebay. I really didn't think it would happen, but I won the bid." I couldn't bring myself to ask him how much he spent. He told me and the rest of the day I fluctuated between feeling guilty over the price and giddy over how excited Aliza would be.

The week before Christmas Aliza had a dream that she got a Hatchimal for Christmas. The night before Christmas she was still hoping that maybe she would get a Hatchimal, but knowing that there really wasn't any chance that she would. Her reaction did not disappoint.

As soon as Anna realized that Aliza got a Hatchimal she burst into tears because "it was not fair." My heart was split--one girl was so excited and my other girl was so sad. Anna got over it in a reasonable amount of time and Aliza generously shared the hatching experience with Anna. I understood Anna's disappointment, but I thought we did pretty well in choosing a gymnastics balance beam for her. (It's foam--4 inches off high and 4 feet long)

I didn't see this one coming though--Isaiah rejected the Tonka tractor we gave him and all he wanted was what we gave Josiah! Isaiah loved tearing wrapping paper and he just wanted more and more and just wanted to be in what all the other kids were doing.

Honestly, I loved giving the children gifts, but the process of all the emotions was not very much fun. All morning I had someone super happy and excited and someone else in sad tears.

I did check in with Dad after our gifts and Mom was feeling good when she woke up. Not up to par--she had a lot of medicine pumped in to her the night before, but they invited us to come to their house for leftover supper and to open our gifts. It was good. I took more pictures that I usually get to since it was a smaller group. Like Mom said--it just wasn't what we had planned and hoped for. Isaiah was happy with the truck his Grandma and Grandad gave him--that was nice to see!
We had Christmas devotions for church--carols, the Christmas story, prayer and sharing. I had a lot going on in my heart on Christmas. Thinking about Mary the mother of Jesus in light of the Bible study we just finished about her. Remembering people close to us and around the world who are hanging on to the HOPE of Christmas, but not celebrating the extravagance of Christmas like we did. Then we had a birthday party for Jesus. Mom found the cutest plates, cups and napkins that said Happy Birthday Jesus. We lit candles, sang Happy Birthday and ate cake and ice cream...and Christmas cookies. Isaiah's little voice chimed right in on Happy Birthday.

The depth of my appreciation of having so much the most important things in life continues to deepen--married parents and siblings, strong, healthy family relationships, faith. Just by our little "messed up" Christmas celebration I found out that I love my parents, grandparents, siblings, in-laws, nieces and nephews more than I thought I did. We don't just "pass on the road" to do our duty to show up at our parents house on a holiday. I genuinely enjoy being with them. I value the role they play in my life and I'm pretty sure they value the role I play in theirs.


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