Slowing Down For Christmas

Christmas was quiet and peaceful at our house - well, as quiet and peaceful as it can be with four kiddos! We emailed Santa and he accepted our invitation to show up a night early... moving our Christmas Adam celebration back one night so that Christmas Eve became the day of stockings and presents, and Christmas day could be more about Christ, since Christmas perfectly fell on a Sunday. I love how the days seemed to really slow down because of this... and how it felt more like a Christmas "season" than just a celebratory "day". Because we focused on slowing down, I didn't take many pictures... and really, it seems silly to try to capture Christmas in a picture - it's more like a feeling, or an immense sense of gratitude, love, joy and peace...

However, I am glad that amidst staying in pjs for days, I still made everybody get dressed up for our traditional "fancy" Christmas dinner, where we celebrate the birth of a King.

Here are the few pictures I did take and they demonstrate that, like most Americans, we (and other family members) spoiled our children rotten! Each child received their three gifts: gold (what they want the most), frankincense (something for their body and mind) and myrrh (something religious). Frankincense this year was a great encyclopedia that our children take turns checking out of the library so that it can be a constant in our home... and now, we OWN it! They also each got their own hockey sticks and so we have spent hours in our driveway playing street hockey and can't wait for it to be cold enough for the outdoor ice rinks to open (yes, you read that right). I think we may have found our family sport... we are all VERY competitive and the adults actually have to TRY in order to keep up with the kiddos - I was even sore the day after we first played! Fun times, that frankincense.

Of course, Mr. Man wouldn't know what to do if there weren't a bazillion legos to put together... good thing both Little E and Mr. T "wanted" lego for their gold gifts!

And Little J couldn't be happier with his Batman cave full of trap doors and switches of all sorts - especially since his brothers are pretty amused by it too - he now has his own toy to bribe them to play with him!

Miss J has spent a lot of time facetiming and emailing with cousins and grandparents, as well as setting up all her music, alarms for her different activities...

Mr. Man has enjoyed his gold gift as well... a long sought-after pasta maker! Little J was a great helper, as he has logged hours and hours of playdoh experience, preparing him for the task.

Yum! Of course we missed extended family, and enjoyed calling and skyping with several of them. Slowly the music, books and decor have been packed away... and I'm grateful to have shared another Christmas with my sweet little family.