Our Merry Little Christmas...

Christmas 2008 was the first Christmas we have been in our home with our own family. Paul was scheduled to work the 6a to 4p (...more like 6p...) shift on Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day (and the 4 days preceeding Christmas)... so we had to get a little fancy with our scheduling to make sure we got in all our traditions and celebrations.

We did our Christmas Eve on two nights... the first night was devoted to Christ. We played out the Nativity and talked about Heavenly Father's gift to us. It was sweet and memorable.

Here is the cast:

Bekah as the Angel: Most remembered for her exclamation of "Mary! You're going to have a baby!" and her graceful flying motions.


Paul as a Wise Man: Most remembered for his deep wisdom and ability to control the mayhem.


Michael as another Angel: Most remembered for his whiteness and proclamations of glad tidings of great joy.


Abby as baby Jesus: Most remembered for her small, sweet babblings and insistence on being swaddled and carried everywhere for the remainder of the night.


Amy as Mary: Most remembered for being motherly.


Ella was the silent and sweet sleeping audience.

I loved having the night strictly devoted to celebrating the birth of Christ. We might consider keeping it on a separate night???

On Christmas Eve proper, we had our Christmas feast. Once again, Ella was sleeping already.

Here we are in front of the tree:

The kiddos got to open two presents: Pajamas and a book.

Bekah was so funny. She was meticulous about getting the tags off and opening her presents very carefully. We had to teach her about ripping presents open (so it wouldn't drag on and on the next morning...)

I love how much my kids love books.



On Christmas Eve, our kids were asleep before 8pm. We knew Paul would need to leave at 5:30 in the morning for work, but still wanted to have a good Christmas morning with him there. So our plan was to wake the kiddos a little after 4am to start our Christmas morning.

What parents wake their children on Christmas morning??

Here are the children all nestled, snug in their beds...



Ella was with the waking party...


Here's what they found when they came downstairs...




It was so fun! The time went by too quickly, and we tore through the presents and savored a bit of play time before daddy went to work.





The day was relaxed and fun, with a huge late morning nap for everyone.


And, of course, a huge package from Mary Ann.


We missed Paul during the day, but the playing was still going strong by the time he got home. There was still plenty of energy for a few air hockey games before we turned our attentions to packing for our trip to see our families. We did, after all, need to leave the next day.

All in all, a wonderful Christmas. Quiet and simple and wonderful. I loved the focus I was able to give my children. I loved the spirit of giving that was in our home. I loved feeling the effects of meaningful traditions as they were carried out in our own home. I love Christmas.

We missed being around family this year, but I will always remember Christmas 2008... our quiet, simple California Christmas... hopefully the earliest Christmas morning our family ever has to have!