The festivities began the week before Christmas with Romee’s Children in Worship Christmas program. She did a perfect job and stayed focused in spite of a couple really big distractions. I suppose when you have 30 preschoolers on stage together there are bound to be some distractions. She sang every words and knew all her poems. She did it in typical Romee fashion. Focused and very serious!
She was looking very hard for her family as she walked in. A big, wide, grin came across her face when she found us.
The Friday night before Christmas, we celebrated with the Bleeker family. We had our traditional prime rib supper. I was recovering from the stomach flu, so didn’t get to completely enjoy the feast of food. Bummer for me! While all the adults look forward to supper all day, the kids can’t wait for supper to be behind them. Because you know, something wonderful happens after supper….SNOWY (aka BINGO), and of course Grandma and Grandpa B’s wonderful prize table! It is so much fun to watch the kids sprint to the table to grab the prize they have been eyeing.
On Christmas Eve, we celebrated as a family. Several years ago, when I was attending MOPS, we had a speaker who talked about establishing Christmas traditions with your family. She encouraged us to do something that isn’t stressful for you as a mom, because otherwise you often don’t enjoy the experience yourself. You can’t get much less stressful than Chinese take-out. So, 8 years ago that is what we did. On the way home from the Christmas Eve service we stopped at the Chinese restaurant and picked up Chinese. I found a Christmas throw- blanket to put on the floor (which we have long outgrown) and we had our first “picnic” under the Christmas tree. This is a huge treat for our kids, because normally we don’t let them eat anywhere but the table, and we rarely eat out. We teased our kids this year that the Chinese restaurant was going to be closed and there was shear panic. That is when you know you have established a tradition.
Miah crafted a little stocking for each of her sisters and then stuffed them with candy she purchased herself. I think that she was more excited to give the girls their gifts than she was about receiving her own. It was so very sweet!
This year we decided to forgo individual gifts for the kids. After much discussion we (Bryan and I ) concluded that we did not need anymore dolls, video games, toys, clothes, shoes, etc. in this house. We are also discovering that as the kids get bigger, the price of their desired gifts gets bigger too. Bryan, having grown up in a large family himself, talks about how his mom and dad often opted not to do individual gifts for each child. Instead they would maybe go away for a night or two or do something else together as a family. I thought this sounded like a wonderful idea. In November already, we prepared the kids that they would not be getting any “big” gifts for Christmas. We told them that we were planning to do a family gift and they were all very excited about that. We did still do their stocking stuffers, because they are my favorite to buy, and who doesn’t need new socks, a toothbrush, and underwear? Sorry Cade, somehow your picture got deleted…
After the stocking were emptied we began the hunt for our family gift. We presented it in the form of a treasure hunt. We piled into the suburban and drove from place to place as Santa instructed (funny, because none of our kids, including Amriah, believe Santa is real). In fact, when I told them that Santa sent them a letter the big kids laughed and Romee said, “Santa isn’t real”. I will do a separate post on the “treasure”.
The week after Christmas my grandma and my Aunt Leanne joined us for our Franken Christmas party. Our kids look forward to Grandma Great and Leanne’s arrival all week. Who wouldn’t love afternoons of games and snack, Grandma Great treating us to breakfast at Casey’s bakery, and of course our evening of prime rib and opening gifts. We have started a tradition of doing a Jesse tree devotion with the kids before supper. This year Willow also got up the courage to recite her December memory work for us, Luke 2:4-14. It is such a blessing to hear the entire Christmas account coming from the mouth of a 7 year old little girl.
Grandma Vic and Grandpa Will have a knack for picking just the right gifts. They always seem to give something that the kids love, but even better than that something they need and really use! This year, they outdid themselves! This gift had our whole family jumping for joy…literally. Actually, just Cade was jumping, and that probably doesn’t surprise anyone who knows him well. Each of our families received an Apple iPad. Let me tell you, this thing has gotten used and everyone loves it. I am slowing figuring it out. The kids are very good teachers. It seems like yesterday I was rolling my eyes at my mom when she asked me to set the VCR recorder for her. Now I am on the receiving end of the eye rolling:)
We had a wonderful Christmas filled with family, friends, food, fun, and lots of wonderful memories. It’s no wonder I am so sad when it is all over!
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