christmas, CHRISTmas, CHRISTMAS!!!

 Christmas at our house this year was the whole package.  Magical, spiritual, exciting, special, loving, and full of joy.

Mary and Sam woke up first, and came blasting excitedly through our bedroom door.  Unfortunately, William and Luke were still sleeping.

I let Mary and Sam play games on the kindle for a while, so I could try to get some more zzzz's, but I was too excited as well. We talked about Christmas and Jesus, and just hung out until William and Luke FINALLY woke up.

I tried to keep all of our kids in our room, so we could all go out together, but once I got everyone all set, we noticed that William was gone.

I opened the door, and there he was.  Sitting in the middle of all of the presents, twinkling lights, soft Christmas music, and Christmas wonder, just silently soaking it all in.  He was feeling the magic of Christmas, and I wasn't about to disturb him.  I let William have his moment, and then the rest of us went out to join him.

Stockings were first.  This is always my favorite part, and was obviously a favorite for the kids too.  They didn't even want to open presents after they went through their stockings.  They were happy and enjoying the moment.  I was shocked that they weren't rushing through it all, but we just let them enjoy at their own pace.  It was peaceful and nice.

After a while, we moved on to presents.  One at a time.  There were squeals, hugs, smiles, and piles of paper everywhere.  It was so fun!

The rest of the day was spent enjoying, relaxing, setting things up, playing with the kids, playing together as a family, going on walks, napping, and eating a yummy dinner.  We also took time to read through our "gift to Jesus." 

For the month of December, each night, we all wrote down something we had done to help someone be happy that day, or to help someone in need.  We had a box full of "gifts to Jesus" by Christmas day, and it was neat to read through them all.

It was a wonderful day.  It was nice to just be, as a family.  To play together, feel the joy together, love together, and to feel the spirit so strongly in our home.

Christmas is a glorious holiday, and I pray that my children will never forget the magic and the love.