Our Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas together this year! We spent a lot of time thinking about ways to keep the focus on Jesus and, for the most part, I think we succeeded. We had a glorious time celebrating our Savior's birth and spending time with family. The day started when Clara woke up and came to snuggle in bed for awhile. Then, we told her there was something waiting for her under the tree. This is what she found:

It was the baby Jesus from our Nativity scene, all wrapped up. Clara unwrapped him and was SO excited when she discovered who it was! We talked about how God sent us the most special gift of all and Jesus was that special gift. Then, since Jesus was here, we started celebrating! Clara and I put candles on Jesus' birthday cake.

Luke and Clara fed Sadie the treats from Sadie's little stocking - even the dogs get to celebrate in our house!

Clara was so excited to open stockings! We were waiting for everyone to be ready, but Clara kept going in and checking on them, waiting on the couch. So cute!

We finally opened stockings, which were a big hit. Clara helped everyone open theirs. She loved reaching down into hers and finding all sorts of treasures! These little wooden tea bags from Grammie were a big hit. :)

Then, it was time to eat! We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and blew out the candles together - so fun! This is not something we did in my family growing up and I loved it! It is definitely a tradition that is here to stay. (In this picture you can also see our cinnamon rolls and bowls of fruit salad, which is my family's traditional Christmas breakfast.)

Clara thoroughly enjoyed her birthday cake for breakfast. :) While we were eating we also read the Christmas story both from Clara's Bible and my Bible.

When I was looking for Clara to get her ready for church, I found her back on the couch, studying the gifts from her stocking. :)

We headed to church and had an absolutely wonderful time celebrating Christ's birth with our church family. Several members shared some of their favorite things about Christmas with some sharing very profound thoughts, others special memories. When I asked Clara what her favorite thing about Christmas was, she said, "Go tell it on the mountain!"

After church we had a quick, snacky lunch and Clara went down for a nap. The rest of us got out all the snacks we had made the day before - homemade cheese crackers, triscuits, cheese ball, carrot sticks, homemade ranch dressing, french bread, olive tapenade and assorted cookies and treats. We set them on Clara's little blue table in the living room. Then, Luke and I brought out all the presents. This was what awaited Clara when she woke from her nap:

But the first thing she noticed when we came in the living room was the blue table. She gasped and said in a surprised voice, "Mommy!! What we do to this WHOLE table!" The sight of all those munchies just blew her over! She was excited to see the presents too, but still spent several minutes at the blue table munching before she headed over to investigate the tree. :) She did a great job handing out presents to everyone and thoroughly enjoyed helping each person open their gifts.

Here she is opening one for her and baby Joy, from Gramma.

 

 

Matching hats! It was so nice to just linger over our gift opening. Each time someone (particularly Clara) opened something, we took time to enjoy it right then and there. Clara was especially good at slowing down and appreciating each gift as it came, while I noticed several times that the rest of us, perhaps out of habit, were quick to move on - "Okay, who's next? What present shall we open now?" I hope Clara never picks up this habit but always takes time to savor and enjoy, although I know this is easier with one child and several adults than with many children and few adults.

One of the gifts we took the longest time enjoying was Owl Babies. Clara wanted to read it as soon as she opened and then wanted to read it 3 or 4 more times before she was ready to do anything else. It was an instant hit and has been a favorite ever since! She loves the story "bout their lost mommy" and lights up every time we come to the page when the Mother Owl comes back.

I saved her biggest gift for last because I knew this one she would want to take lots of time playing with, and my guess was correct. Grammie sent Thomas the Tank Engine and a set of wooden tracks. Clara was so excited! She played with the trains and tracks every day at Gramma's house when we were there in October, so I knew she would love these. We are looking forward to years of fun with this wonderful gift! Thank you, Grammie!

We spent the rest of the day munching, relaxing, playing and snuggling.

After Clara went to bed, Mommy and Daddy played for a long time with her new fabric squares, sent by Gramma. We had a blast with them! Daada was laughing at us the whole time. :)

It was a wonderful day throughout which we felt completely blessed and overwhelmed at the greatness of God's gift to us. Thank you Jesus, and Happy Birthday!!! We can't wait to celebrate again next year!