Merry Christmas

My parents came to visit us this year for Christmas, it was so good to enjoy a few days with them. As much as I enjoyed our Christmas with them, it wasn't the same without my brother here to celebrate. My brother is serving our country in Afghanistan and his presence was deeply missed. I am so proud of him and his brave service to our country.

This year we started a new tradition for Christmas that we adopted from our friends the Bakers. This year instead of giving the children a ton of toys, which can be very costly and take away from the true meaning of Christmas, we gave them three gifts. A "gold" gift, a "frankincense" gift and "myrrh" gift. The gold gift was a costly gift and something that they really wanted, the frankincense gift was a special gift, something that really means a lot to them. Finally, the myrrh gift was a practical gift. After our tradition of reading the Christmas story together as a family we explained the three gifts Jesus received and their meanings. Then we explained to Claire what each of her three gifts represented. I am excited about this new tradition. I am always looking for ways to help our family reflect on the real meaning of Christmas. I hope this made the girls' gifts more meaningful to them as well.

There were also a few cute moments during our Christmas morning festivities. All season long Claire has only asked for one thing, a princess cash register. That is all she has wanted. Then, two days before Christmas, when we were out shopping so Claire could pick out a gift for Keeley, she saw a Princess Magic Oven. Oh boy was she excited! She wanted one so bad. Well, Nathan and I had already bought her Christmas, but since it was all she talked about from that moment on we felt it would make a more appropriate "frankincense" gift then the one we had picked out for her. So the next morning my mom and I returned her original gift and went and got her the oven. I was so thankful we did this. On Christmas morning before we opened gifts she said "If I get a cash register and a oven I will really have my hopes up!" Then when she opened her gifts and saw that she did indeed have a cash register and a oven she said "I got my hopes up!" It was too cute and made us all laugh. Keeley was also quite fun to watch. Last Christmas, not only was she really sick, but she was really too young to get into it. This year she was so excited. Every present we brought to her she would take to my dad (aka poppy) and say "help" or "out". He would help her unwrap her presents and her usual response would be "wow"! Nathan and I had so much fun watching the joy on our children's faces as they unwrapped their gifts.