Quick recap before I upload pictures:
We had a lovely Christmas this year.
The Eve was spent at home in Cedar. I did some frantic last-minute shopping (which I vow to NEVER do again... I will stay HOME on Christmas Eve forever more), while Brian stayed home and enjoyed the afternoon off. His office closes at noon on Christmas Eve (though he still ended up working until 2:30, helping out all his procrastinating customers). I felt a little pressure this year to think of some Christmas traditions to start for our family. This is the first year that Brianna can do more than just rip apart wrapping paper. So I wanted to do something special and help her understand the meaning of Christmas. It's so hard to balance the Jesus-Santa thing. I don't want to be a pious stiff and skip the Santa part... but my main responsibility is to teach her that Christmas is so much more than presents and pretty lights. I don't know how I'm going to do that. But the plan so far is that Christmas Eve will be spiritually centered, and Christmas morning will start with a prayer and finish with a pile of wrapping paper and new toys.
We did a "Jesus dinner." We turned off the lights, lit a candle, made a table on the floor, and ate the foods our Savior would've eaten over 2,000 years ago. Fish, figs, flatbread (we used pita), grape juice, and honey. Maybe I'll get more creative and authentic in future years of Jesus dinners. But this seemed to really work well for us. Brianna had a sweet little spirit about her. I think she could sense that this was a very special night. The babies even cooperated and were content the whole time. We read from Luke 2 after we ate. Then she went to bed while Brian and I got everything ready for the morning. When she woke up we had family prayer then went for the tree. Brian passed out the gifts one by one and Brianna helped everyone open their gifts. Courtney and Bennett received some baby toys (Brianna didn't seem to recognize that they were her old toys), I gave Brian a new camera, waffle/grill/sandwich maker combo, croc flops, some frames with our new fam pics, Brianna got an easel with a magnetic letterboard and chalk board, a Thomas the train ride-on toy, an oversized My Little Pony, some books, trailmix snack bags, and a few other things. We didn't get her much, because we knew both sets of grandparents would be loading her up with presents. But Brianna would've been thoroughly content with her stash as it was! We had a tough time pulling her away from it! We had to hurry though, because we wanted to arrive in Spanish Fork by noon for lunch and presents with Brian's parents. We packed everything up, cleaned the house, and headed off for a foggy Christmas drive. No white Christmas for us until we arrived in Spokane at 6pm. It was a crazy day of traveling! But our Christmas miracle was that everything went great. The babies cooperated very well with the huge change in their scenery and routines. They wore adorable matching candy-cane type outfits and got a lot of attention. They got the outfits from Barbara. She was very generous with her gifts. We got a lot of cute clothes, toys, and I got a TASER! I hope I get a chance to zap someone while I'm out running! :)
We left at 3 for our drive to SLC to catch our flight. We were quite the circus scene. I think some people were even clapping for us in the airport. I had one baby in the Moby wrap, the other on one hip, and Brianna's hand in mine. Brian had 4 suitcases and a backpack. We didn't bring any ID for the kids and had a little scare by TSA for it. But they let us through (whew!) and we had a half-empty smooth plane ride that arrived thirty minutes early! It was such a huge relief to finally arrive in Spokane. I lovelovelove being here. All of Steve and Meg's family is here, plus Linds & Coug & Kardon, Meredith and Lily, and Sammy. Mom had the house decorated so cute for the holidays. And of course she made awesome food. I'm bound to gain back the weight I've worked hard to lose. Brian loves relaxing here and watching movies in their theater room - now a blu-ray theater. Mom and Dad were extremely generous with their gifts, as always. Their big gift was an Emergency Preparedness gift card to Harbor Freight. Honestly, I hope we never have to use it! That scares me. But it's nice to know we're prepared with water, a generator, heat, etc. We did the annual coin-grab from Dad's jar - Brianna scored $1.44. She's ecstatic about the Melissa & Doug toys Nonny spoiled her with. Brian got new work clothes, which make him ridiculously happy... ok, I won't go on and on listing presents we got and gave. Although that actually is very fun for me. I get a big kick out of gifts. Big and small. I loving giving and I love receiving. I'm really grateful for those three wise men, 2K + yrs ago, who gave gifts to baby Jesus so that we can all give gifts to each other. And for our Savior's ultimate gift to us - his life and atonement. I will think of him each time I use my new taser.
yAy ChRiStMaS!
1 comment:
Sounds awesome, I love that you had that special dinner, that is really important and I am impressed that you did that. I also got a taser which I am super stoked about, sometimes on trails by myself, I get nervous about people jumping out. I am also nervous that I will accidentally hit myself with it, it seems pretty powerful.
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