We came home definitely in the Christmas spirit, and enjoyed our new Christmas Eve dinner tradition, a mexican fiesta! I love these Christmas plates. The pattern is Winterberry from Pfaltzgraff, and it took me several years to collect 12 plates and some serving pieces. Love, love, love using them throughout December!
Then we lit some candles in the family room, and my husband and daughter took turns reading the Christmas story from two of the gospels (Matthew and Luke). I wish I had turned the flash off, because these pictures look rather glaring and in reality it was much darker and quieter and just a lovely peaceful time. Our youngest is old enough now to sit still through the whole story!
Doesn't the tree look beautiful, with the presents underneath just WAITING to be opened??!!!
Now I know that presents are not what Christmas is all about. Not even close. But it is so fun, as a parent, to give good gifts to our children. And it makes me think how it must have felt for God our Heavenly Father to give us the greatest gift of all on that first Christmas night. He knew the pain of what was coming down the road, but I think He could barely contain His excitement and joy over the giving of this gift ~ as evidenced by the brilliant star and angel choir announcing His birth!
I am so grateful that we were able to give each of the children at least one thing they *really* wanted this year. We started our shopping about 3 months ago, buying one thing from each paycheck so that we could pay with cash each time (or use gift cards) and not put anything on a credit card. And God was faithful to help me find good sales for almost everything!
Here is Little Man with a new GeoTrax set which he loved!
This Egyptian pyramid is a brand new playmobil set and was the number one item on son C's wishlist. It was kindof expensive, so we gave it to C and Little Man to share, and boy were they happy! It is a really cool set with hidden rooms and booby traps for would-be grave robbers. My husband and I had fun checking it out after the kids were in bed!
Son L really wanted........
..... a skateboard!
And we also gave him his first leather Bible with his name engraved on the front (as well as a Bible cover and a highlighter). For the first two children this was their "double digit" birthday present when they each turned 10, but since son L lost his other Bible he has not had the word of God to read for himself. So we gave it to him for Christmas instead. He loved it, and we loved giving it to him.
Son G got two things he really wanted!
No way! A camera??!!
His first picture was of me taking his picture! He has taken over 200 pictures since then. He has all the ornaments on our tree well documented, as well as his new playmobil yacht from every conceivable angle. :-)
Daughter G's favorite thing were these speakers for her mp3 player. They are fabulous speakers (just about the best ones at Radio Shack) that were more than half off. We have been enjoying listening to her playlist all together ~ it is so easy for her to share favorite songs with us now! She has some awesome praise and worship music on her player. And if she ever replaces her Sony mp3 player with an iPod, these speakers will also serve as a docking/recharging station for that.
Here is my favorite gift ~ a wall tapestry that I fell in love with at Family Christian. My husband bought it with my 25% off coupon! Click on the picture to see all the "rules" larger. I love the last one, which is "Love one another deeply from the heart." My prayer for our family! Have to figure out where to hang it....
The present that Little Man bought for me at the dollar store turned out to be a cord to hang my reading glasses from! He got me a pink one, and this blue one was given to me by son G, so now I never have to lose my reading glasses!
My other gifts from the children were new gloves and a new pair of scissors from daughter G (our dollar store has really awesome scissors!), and junior mints from son L. Son C said he ran out of time to shop for me, which I thought was really hilarious since I was right there with him in the store and I seem to recall that we had plenty of time.....! (good thing I know he loves me regardless of gifts or lack thereof).My husband and I were not planning on giving each other gifts, but some generous friends gave us a gift card so that we could. I gave my husband something he needed (a whole bunch of new socks) and something he wanted (an 8 G memory card for his new phone). Hope your Christmas Eve was wonderful and happy and joyous!
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