Christmas Recap
I am extremely excited to be joining Jonni at "My jolly little life" for her January Blogathon!
"Your personal "home for the holidays" recap complete with all of your own traditions you love," what an excellent first topic! My writing and inspiration has been dry as a bone so
this will be great.
After a month and a half of Christmas parties, shopping and fun December 24th came far too swiftly. My husband and I had completed all our buying and wrapping and the moment our two babies were in bed the excitement level rose! We stuffed stockings and filled the tree with presents while listening to Bing Crosby and drinking hot cocoa.We were so excited for the morning we could hardly get to sleep. It is funny how one makes the transition from not being able to sleep Christmas eve as a child because you get to open presents in the morning to growing up and still not being able to sleep because you can't wait to see your own child's face when they walk down the stairs to behold Christmas morning in all its splendor!
Our children are very early risers but my husband and I actually awoke before them and had to wait for them to get up before we could run downstairs. We didn't have to wait long before we heard little excited voices in the other room. We all went downstairs together and their little faces did not disappoint! Seeing Christmas through a small child's eyes once again, beautiful! Our little three year old waited patiently for breakfast to be over and the Bible read then we let her open her minnie mouse stocking. With every tiny treasure she unwrapped her thankfulness kept pouring out. Our little 15 month old son, found a spider man tooth brush in his stocking and decided that was all he needed! When we got to some of the bigger presents my daughter opened she would give us these hugs and say "this is awesome" or "I love it" "this is my favorite" "Thank you so much" she was amazed and appreciative of every single present big or tiny. My husband and I surprised each other with a few fun special gifts and Jackson (our son) was in heaven with all the wrapping paper and boxes to play with.
We had a wonderful time with our little, growing, family but that was just the beginning of the events of our Christmas day!
We were done by 8:00 in the morning, packed the car full of presents for our family and drove to my parents house to hold to the tradition that we have kept since childhood. All my siblings plus husbands and kids now meet at my parents to exchange gifts and enjoy the excitement together! Everyone's faces are priceless (not just the kids) when each family walks in and sees the growing mound of gifts.
by 9:30 my 6 year old niece had quoted the Christmas story in its entirety and we dove into stockings and presents. You know the feeling that you got someone something that they love and you just can't wait to give it? Yep that is every single one of us! we couldn't wait to give our gifts and see the other persons reaction. We halted the production to make an amazing Christmas tradition breakfast then tackled the mound again. We kept it up until after 2:00 then naps were in order before we returned for Dinner.
This year was extra special because we had a few new additions which we don't normally get to have. My aunt and uncle who just moved to our lovely little mountain as well as our grandparents who truly made the day great with their presence.
In all the noise and craziness I took a moment to sit back and appreciate every single detail! We are blessed above and beyond what we could ask or imagine. Having all the family together in celebration of our Lord, with giving and receiving, good food and so much love! I am beyond thankful and will look forward to next year quite like a child does and count down the days until we get to do it all over again!
-Shannon Leah
