Christmas Day

 If I had any doubt that our children are growing up, Christmas Day confirmed it again. Since Christmas was on Sunday, we decided to go to church and wait to open presents until after church. The oldest three were excited to see friends on Christmas and Isaiah thought it was super exciting to be able to wear his jammies to church. It was a shorter service, but, as per usual, our family was just about the last to leave.

As soon as we got home, I got brunch/lunch started and the children opened their gifts from Matt and Chrissy. It was really fun for them to open a gift to hold them over until after lunch.

This year Isaiah picked out gifts for his brother and sisters. He wanted to be the first to GIVE his gifts and Isaiah could hardly contain his excitement. He stood right beside Josiah--with his arm around his shoulder.

There were lots of hugs.

Jeremy likes to make milkshakes and Aliza gave him a "milkshake cup" and his favorite candy additions for his milkshakes.

Josiah hugged Aliza and Anna after opening their gifts--which just needed to be documented.

This gift for Anna was a bit silly. She is ALWAYS stealing my water cup. So I gave her 2 glass water cups with metal straws and wooden lids. She has been faithfully using her own this week!

We've been joking that Anna is creating an instrument collection. This year she really wanted a ukelele. She found an app that she has been using a lot this week. She's been really excited about what she's learning and her progress.

We surprised Aliza...

...twice. The second one was triple wrapped and put in a bigger box. A really great Black Friday sale made her gift possible!

I always forget how overwhelming the post Christmas mess is. I got the worst of it cleaned up and by then I had hit the "Christmas wall" and my "Christmas spirit" was gone. A nap helped a bit. I got up in time to clean up the kitchen, bake dinner rolls, and head to Mom and Dad's house for Christmas dinner. 

After dinner we watching Sight and Sound's production "Jesus" on TV. I had not seen on of their productions on TV. It was really good. The boys said it was good, but Aliza and Anna truly loved it. Now they want nothing more than to watch a Sight and Sound play live. 

Now, a few days later, I've forgotten how bad the mess was and am cherishing the memories of our family together at this stage in the children's lives.