Mike and I have been talking about the true meaning of Christmas.We've been explaining how Santa, candy canes, and the gifts are all symbols of Christ and his birth. It was much easier last year to teach our kids the true meaning of Christmas minus Santa and reindeer. But this year was much more difficult. With most of Hailey's friends still believing in Santa this made her so confused. Mason was getting really caught up in the material things from all the catalogs that keep coming in the mail everyday. So we read the scriptures that talked about Jesus Christ and all his wonderful works. From healing the sick, obeying his father, etc and we listened to Christmas Devotional several times. So it was starting to sink in but just not enough. So Mike and I decided on this motto this year.....
1 gift that they need
1 gift that they want
1 gift made with love (homemade)....(sort of like a labor of love)
1 stocking
So I had the kids pull names on who they were going to make a gift for. Once everyone had a name I took each aside separately and searched the best website ever.....Pinterest!
Everyone had 3 weeks to made their gift and wrap it. This was really fun! Mike and I also did this. With being on a small budget I had some money left over from some coupon overage and from a bill that was less than I thought so we each had $28 to get each others Christmas gifts. But we stayed true to our new motto. So this was really hard for me since I spent $22 of it on a pair of Mike's favorite lined jeans. But I can work magic with $6.
Anyways back to Christmas day.
Mike and I went to bed around 1:30am since our living room looked like this due to our last minute preparations. A complete mess!
After all their gifts were opened and stockings were emptied it was time to get read for church. We only had sacrament meeting which was nice since Lily and Cati were so tired that they wined and cried most of that hour. But when I looked around a bunch of kids were in the same state of grumpiness so I didn't feel so bad.
The church Christmas program was amazing. A Brethen read the scriptures about Jesus birth and at certain points the choir would sing a song related to that scripture. I felt the spirit so strongly that I just cried the entire time. It's absolutely amazing when Christmas lands on Sunday. It's like a double Holy Day.
After church we changed into our comforty clothes, our girls took a nap, Mike and I watched a movie and put together his puzzle. But soon it was time to leave to go pick up Mason and Hailey. And that's where things got crazy....
We went to my parent's house first. Our kids really enjoyed spending time with their grandparents. We said Hello, ate lunch, then it was present time. Everyone was just so happy.....
Don't mess with Cati's new babies. One of my parent's dogs took her doll and after that she was so protective of her babies. It was so adorable!
Not the best photo but the only one that shows Mike gift that I made him. See the "Chuck Norris was here" shirt.... Mike really likes all those Chuck jokes so it only made sense to make him a shirt with one of the sayings.
Mason had a pretty bad migraine so he stood inside my mom's room until the Excedrin kicked in. The kids got spoiled but I think Mike and I were more spoiled. My parents got us a Wii. I know Wii's were so 2009 but we're finally catching up with the times.
After many hours of play and talking we left and headed to our friend, Sarah and Eric's, house.
Where everyone played with farting play-doh and had some treats. Thanks Sarah!
After playing some more Mike and I were beat. There's only so much caffeine can do so we started back home where Mason and Hailey were excited to open their gifts. Who knew gift opening could be so tiring? Well we were.
When we arrived home it was almost 8pm so we did a very quick version of gift exchange.
Hailey picked Lily for her gift. So she made her an owl mobile. She hand sewn it and on Dec.22 we stood up really late and put the finishing touches.
Cati picked Mason. I helped her make him this snake tie.
And Lily picked Cati. Lily wanted to make fairy wings for Cati but as we started the process she wanted them for herself. So my logic was Lily picked the gift out so it's not cheating if I made it.
Anyways our kids were spoiled. With the gifts we purchased, gifts that both Mike and I each made and the gifts from each other- they made out like bandits!
Anyways with everyone grumpy all the kids went to bed and were promised 1 hour of playtime before it was time to clean up.
Afterwards Mike and I tried to watch, "It's a Wonderful Life", but we fell asleep on our sofa bed around 9pm. ☺
Even though it was a tiring day it was such a special day for everyone. Christmas is meant to be around those that you love and that love you back. And as a family we were. We felt the spirit of Christmas despite our crazy driving. Maybe next year we'll do Christmas Eve driving ☺
Oh yeah for Mike and I.....my remaining $6 for him I picked up a puzzle of Chicago, a belt that I wrote 28 numbers from Pi sort of like the one that I seen on Helping Little Hands,
a key chain tape measure that he said all wood workers need and painted him that Chuck Norris shirt
Mike- he is really creative! He picked up so many things for me candy bars, paperclips, a new tea mug, an eraser car puzzle, some craft looking tape, a book about dreams (which I love) but the coolest thing was his labor of love gift.
I asked Mike in a cutesy way what he made me. Him and his comic way looked around our living room and said "I made you a pencil holder". We both laughed at the idea.....and when we opened gifts- look what he made me....A PENCIL HOLDER! I laughed so hard. He lied to me by telling me the truth. But I love it! I commented to Mike that I feel so nerdy. Books, office supply items, and a pencil holder. But I must be a nerd since I loved all my gifts. He said we're a nerdy match since he loves his Pi belt.
Well this Christmas we really amazing. Merry Christmas!
No comments:
Post a Comment