Merry Christmas!!

Whew! I have officially finished all of the Christmas shopping. Yes, I braved the stores on the weekend before Christmas. Am I crazy? Well, I would have been had I went to the Town Center, but I chickened out and settled for good ol' Bi-Mart and the Dollar Tree here in Damascus. They were busy enough, but most of the fellow procrastinators were in a fairly good mood so it was kind of fun.

I finished wrapping the presents in less than two hours and managed to keep the boys from peeking, though I enjoyed quite a bit of giggling and whispering on the other side of the door. They then helped me put candy canes on all the presents and transported them to the wood stove, where all the presents are being displayed. Of course I let them have a candy cane for all their help. I didn't realize how much sugar went into those innocent looking, cheery little hooks of hyperness, but let me tell you... there's a lot. Just a little fyi.

I find that I am actually enjoying this year's Christmas quite a lot. A good part of that is because the boys are older and are really starting to grasp what the holiday is all about. It's fun to relate the story on a child's level and try to be as creative as possible when discussing it with them. When going through the story of Jesus' birth, they learned about him having to sleep out in a barn where the cows eat. Kristopher was a little concerned that He would be eaten by mistake.

A lot of us just don't have oodles of money lying around to spend on everyone this year, so there's kind of a laid back feeling. More of a focus on family and the simple things. We've been having fun celebrating and decorating in honor of Christ's upcoming birthday in a variety of ways I have to say. For example, decoratively themed table cloths are thrown over the extra boxes that we haven't found room for yet from our moving in with Dad and Mom. Also, we took all the lights we could find and decorated the maple tree and the tulip tree (which I climbed late at night to do so...but Jacob caught me and made me come down). They look sooooo pretty and cheerful. We've dug out other decor from years past including a wreath which served to hang the ornaments upon. There just isn't room for a Christmas tree haha... By the way, Dad wants to get one now. So, Monday we're going hunting for one.

Also, since this is the first Christmas we've spent with my family in a number of years, there's an extra excitement. I can tell the boys feel it too. They are loving being with family. They have a confidence and security about them that Jacob and I find priceless. They feel right at home here at Dad and Mom's and feel it is their home too. Even Kolbein. He's always toddling (or should I say running with gusto?) around helping himself to this or that. "This" or "that" include anything from the pans in the cupboard, opening his brothers' dressers, to of course, his favorite, the bathroom toilet.

So, until the next post, Merry, merry Christmas and a bright, fresh Happy New Year!!