Christmas

Christmas last year was wonderful, in that we saw lots of family.  We loved spending time with family.  But it was hectic, traveling from place to place.  As a result, the Christmas break, wasn't much of  a break.  It was lots of living out of a suitcase and dealing with the children in other people's homes and in the car. 

So this Christmas we decided we were not going to travel.  So we stayed home and made a gingerbread house and went Christmas shopping and got our tree decorated and watched Christmas movies.  (My favorite is "Glad Christmas Tidings", last year's Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas special).  


We kept saying that we needed to talk about traditions and decide how we were going to do things this year.  Logan's definition of a tradition: "those old things that people do over and over again." 

Anyway, Logan said he liked the Higgins tradition of opening presents on Christmas Eve.  (Anything, to get those presents earlier)!

The Sharp's have a tradition of having a Christmas Eve buffet.  We decided to continue that. Our small version included meat & cheese and veggie plates and of course lemon bars.

Instead of opening all the presents on Christmas Eve, we decided to go with just opening the stockings instead.  The kids were okay with that idea because at least they got to open something.

Christmas Day landed on a Sunday this year.  I love Christmas on Sundays.  I love going to church and singing Christmas hymns.  What better way to start the day.  

We have 9am church.  I woke Logan up at 8am and the first thing he asked was, "Do we have time to open our presents before church!?!"  Unfortunately, no we didn't.  

Poor kids.  They've been waiting sooooooo long.  They weren't even allowed to touch the presents under the tree.  (They got lots of Legos; it would have been a dead give away to shake a package). 

The Higgins' have a tradition of reading the Christmas story out of Luke in the Bible before opening presents.  
We wanted to continue that tradition.

So after going to church and reading the scriptures the children finally got to rip into those presents.  Logan got soccer gear.  Now we just need to sign him up for soccer someday.

Taylor got her very own bucket of Legos!

Taylor got Play-dough from Logan.  He thought of the present himself and helped make it and everything.  He chose the colors too, pink and purple.  We were pretty pleased with his thoughtfulness.  And Taylor loved the gift, of course.

Taylor had colored pictures for everyone in the family and that is what she gave as her Christmas gift.  It was also very thoughtful and sweet.  She was so excited to give.

Legos for Logan.

3D pajamas!  What will they think of next!?!

A dress for her doll...

and a matching dress for herself.
  

More Legos for Logan.

Both kids got their first bathrobes.

 And now Christmas has come to close for another year.  The kids are busy playing with their new toys.  We loved having a nice, quiet Christmas at home.  We missed family, but got to talk to them, at least.  

Next year, I want to do a better job of focusing on the true meaning of Christmas.  I have that goal every December, but then things seem to get hectic and rushed and not so Christlike.

I was so concerned about the gifts I needed to buy.  I don't feel like I did a very good job of teaching the children that it's better to give than to receive.  I asked Logan to think of something for Taylor and he did.

But Taylor taught me about the real meaning of Christmas.  She, all on her own decided that she wanted to give gifts to her family.  Without saying anything to anyone, she drew and colored pictures for each of us.  She kept them in an empty shoebox for weeks, just waiting for someone to help her wrap them.  And she was just as excited about them as any of the gifts she got.   She is such a sweetheart.  I want our Christmases to be more like that and our Christmas attitude to be more like hers.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!