The 1st of My Christmas Thoughts

Our own Christmas was actually the last of our Christmas celebrations which worked out quite nicely. Apparently a few of the children were worn out, two slept until 8:00! Jeremy slept longer while I made breakfast. I wasn't expecting to make breakfast before presents, but that's how it worked out. Everyone was happy and content. They were excited, but not being obnoxious begging for their presents. It is much more fun to give gift to children who are not begging for them anyway!

The word that kept rolling around in my head all day was "extravagance." Not the commercialized Christmas extravagance that makes all of our heads spin, but the extravagant love of a God who sends his Son to earth as a baby to save us (ME!) from our sins so that we can have a relationship with Him. This is a love so extravagant that our human, earthly minds cannot even fathom the purity and depth of that love. Our advent readings describe this love as "unbeatable, uncontainable, unconditional, unwrappable love.

As we gave our children gifts that were extravagant within our means I wanted them to know that God gives them good gifts--He is a good Father and that God's love for them is extravagant. Our children did nothing to deserve the gifts we gave them for Christmas. We gave them gifts because we love them beyond what they can imagine--a metaphor for our relationship with God, our Heavenly Father.

We were seriously sweating as we opened gifts! Our house was so warm. It was 72 and super humid outside.

Anna had one thing that she consistently said that she wanted. She is still young enough that she had no idea that we would actually get it for her.

You'll hear more about Josiah's Christmas in later posts since I'm writing about our "last" Christmas first. Suffice to say, this was just the icing on his Christmas cake.

The best thing I did this year was have Aliza make an Amazon wishlist. Even with a wishlist, we surprised her and I got a hug for it.

After we got the toys assembled we were all truly sweating so we just took the toys outside to play with on the porch. Strange as it was, I'm not complaining at all!

Isaiah. I love him to pieces. Fortunately for me, he was the recipient of my most epic Christmas fail. I thought I had ordered him a kid sized wagon to pull around the house this winter and the yard this summer. Josiah had one and loved the thing. I watched my shipping history and knew it was delivered, but I didn't actually open the Amazon boxes until I was ready to wrap--for obvious reasons when you have four excited littles in your house. When I opened the box I found that I had ordered a miniature version of the wagon. It's so little that if he tries to pull it while walking the front wheels are off the ground.

My Dad came over for supper. I made a turkey roast. Mom came over when she got off work. The children were excited to show her their toys and we caroled for our neighbors. They really appreciated it and it's fun to do! I'm feeling very relaxed today--almost like it's a holiday! ha. Holidays are a lot of work for Moms.