Our Christmas

This morning Shane, my parents, and my sister took the children to Monkey Joe's while I stayed home and attempted to bring some sort of calm to the chaos that became our house over the Christmas weekend.  I believe I have (with a very grateful heart) two sets of grandparents and some aunts and uncles to thank for that chaos.  But things are now much more organized; I put a slew of our old toys away, arranged our now deeply stocked craft area, and even tucked away in a closet a few new toys that hadn't been pulled out of their boxes yet.  Some cold winter day coming up we'll all be glad to discover new things.  And I did some laundry.

Anyhow, the celebrating of Christmas at our house began on Friday with a day of baking goodies.  Silas has been asking for weeks to make an apple pie.  He saw it on a Berenstein Bears video and thought it would be grand.  He could hardly stand it when he woke that morning to discover it was the 23rd (thank you, Advent Calendar) and Apple Pie Day.  It turned out pretty good for a recipe I looked up online that morning...

Saturday we had two big celebrations.  We opened presents and had lunch (pizza and wings has become a tradition) with Shane's family.  You should have seen the kid's eyes as Grandma and Grandpa, Wes and Brooke brought in the presents that morning.  It was sheer delight...

After a good rest that afternoon, we all (my parents and sister included) went to spend Christmas Eve with Shane's extended family.  There isn't really a house among us that will hold everyone so we gather at an indoor pavilion in a park.  It is always decorated for Christmas and has a kitchen so works great for the family.  It's another fun tradition.  There are also hundreds of lit trees in the park at Christmas, which we love to see as we come and go.

Christmas morning we woke to full stockings...

We then all went to church together, which was a nice retreat I thought from all the "stuff" of the weekend.  There wasn't childcare, though, so I didn't hear much of the sermon.  However, our children did very well and I found myself grateful for the chance to worship on Christmas Day.  We had a quick lunch at home then opened presents with my parents and sister.  The children were all about in meltdown mode as we finished so I whisked them away for a long nap.

That evening we had a big Christmas feast.  And would you like to see the treasure that was our Happy Birthday Jesus cake?

I've never claimed to be crafty nor skilled at cake decorating.  But Silas loved helping with it and put the candles on himself.  We then had Papa read the Christmas story while three little ones climbed up in laps and wandered and generally couldn't wait until we got to sing "Happy Birthday" and blow out candles.  It was sweet.  Nothing out of an idyllic movie, mind you, but very sweet...

Monday we had our final celebration of the weekend with Shane's dad.  Shane's sister, Tara, has our children's only cousin, who is just a bit younger than Simeon and Lieren.  Tara is also due to have a little boy just a month before our baby so they will all be super close.  We had to laugh after this picture; one day Simeon will wonder, Why in the world was I holding a toothbrush?

The children have a plethora a fun new things now.  Silas has really enjoyed his new marble run and Melissa & Doug food you can cut.  Lieren loves her new baby doll diaper bag and accessories.  Simeon hasn't quite latched on to one thing, but he and Lieren both seem to really like this set of the Three Little Pigs they got.  The children didn't get any new DVDs this year, unless you count Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas, which Shane ordered for them.  It was a classic in his home growing up, just like Christmas Eve on Sesame Street was in mine.

I personally received some really great gifts this year: dishes, a vacuum, maternity clothes, some pots and pans, and frivolous but much-loved new perfume (thank you, sister!) among some other things.  But my favorite gift was sitting on my pillow when I came to bed Christmas night.  Shane had even written in it...

This season of so many little ones in the little years has not been easy for me.  There is nothing I've ever wanted to do more, but nothing that has been harder.  I admit to tears when I saw it sitting there, realizing how much Shane knows my heart.  He sees the best of the best and the worst of the worst.  Yet he still is right here, loving the little years with me.

In true Brittany fashion, I opened directly to the last page.  I read what follows.  Then fell asleep with the book in hand...

So rejoice in your children.  Look them in the eyes and give thanks.  You will not even remember the work of all this planting when the harvest of joy overwhelms you.