I guess I never noticed how commercialized Christmas is until I had kids. It is all about the gifts. The day after Christmas everyone is asking, what did you get? Were your kids spoiled? Every time the kids see a commercial its, "I want that for Christmas." I don't know if I was the only one who was losing focus of what Christmas really is.
I am however blessed at all the gifts and fun things our kids got this year from family everywhere. They had an awesome day.
Christmas Eve was crazy busy just like any other mothers. Last min. wrapping, cooking, shopping, cleaning..the list goes on and on. We stopped by my Aunt's house so she could give the boys their gift. She had this amazing scavenger hunt to find it. One clue would lead to the next until the boys were outside in her backyard where they discovered bikes!! She has a great backyard that is all brick so it is perfect safe place for the boys to ride!
Later that night the boys were able to open one gift from their Grandma and Grandpa Jo Jo. Of course it just so happened to be matching P.J.'s which was perfect. A tradition that I want to keep going for years to come.
About 11 pm Christmas Eve night I had a breakdown. I asked my husband is this what Christmas is going to be like for the next few years? Staying up all night the night before prepping, totally exhausted and frazzled. He said yes. I figured. We finally got to bed around 1am and just knew the kids would be up well before sunrise.
5:30 AM was here and 2 out of 3 kids were up and ready to see what Santa had brought them. We managed to keep them out of the front room until 6:30. I go to get the baby out of bed and I hear Aiden screaming, "Santa got me a scooter!" Yup, he had discovered it and Christmas morning had officially begun.
The next 3 hours were lots of coffee and opening a few gifts before everyone arrived for breakfast hosted by me. Grandparents started coming and I got a flash back to when I was a kid living in Riverside and I remember having Christmas at our house and my grandparents pulling up and unloading tons of gifts. The same grandparents that brought me my gifts were now showing up to bring my kids gifts. The same mom that once stayed up all night to give me and my siblings a great Christmas was now in fact a grandparent herself. It is crazy how fast life just passes.
Few hours of opening gifts, eating, and visiting everyone left and we just looked around the house and thought, Oh my! Then we put the kids down for a nap and crashed for more than 2 hours.
Dinner was hosted by my mom (which was amazing...fillet and lobster) While there we did our 3rd annual gift exchange. Everyone buys a gift and then we draw numbers to see what order we choose gifts in. We can steal, kill, and destroy for the gifts. Ok, nobody actually does that but my mom and I are always hoping for a innocent fight to break out over stealing gifts. Its always a fun time. I think next year we are going to have to shake it up a bit!
The rest of the evening was just great. Laughter, good food, crazy kids, and lots of love. THIS is what Christmas is all about. Families coming together to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Well with 4 a little older than yours - I can tell you Christmas Eve is always late and yes very frazzeled. HOWEVER - through the years we have learned to keep things in focus and each year it seems we come up with new ways to keep Jesus at the center. This year, we focused on Jesus ALL Christmas Eve. We did the church service, then it was home for the Christmas story and giving Jesus "gifts" in His stocking. This helped a bunch because the kids went to bed with Jesus on their mind. Of course Christmas morning was bright and early and all about presents but still helped to keep things in perspective! It's so fun though to have little ones on Christmas morning!
ReplyDelete