Christmas 2013

We had a spectacular Christmas!!  We felt very blessed to have The Mr. home with us, and the time together as a family was the best gift any of us could have hoped for!  Of course, we missed our distant relatives dearly, but were grateful to be able to skype them - thank you, modern technology, for bridging the gap and making holidays so much happier when you're far from family!

Here are the children, the very first thing Christmas morning.  They are allowed to open their stockings on their own, before the Mr. and I are up - so they got right to it! :)

Each child received a gift from Santa.  Angel loved the backpack for her doll, Izzy!

Grins was super excited about his remote control helicopter!

And here is Wiggles, opening her gift....

All she asked for was a toy sword so she could have sword fights with Grins!

Of course, Grins wasted no time trying to get that helicopter in the air!

The kids were very excited to open a big package from Uncle Nay and Aunt Molly!

We recorded them opening it to show Nay and Molly.  

Our Opa - The Mr's father - started a wonderful tradition where he did a treasure hunt on Christmas day, where each child found clues which led them around the house in search of their gifts.  Since The Mr. hasn't been home on Christmas before this year, we hadn't done this before - so we started this year!  It was SO much fun!!  I had to get a bit creative, because this requires 4 gifts (one for each clue), and we only get our child one gift for Christmas (plus one from Santa) - but fortunately we received some hand-me-down books from a friend just before Christmas, which were the perfect addition to fill-in our Scavenger Hunt! :) 

Wiggles looking at one of her clues.  She got all picture clues - and she figured them out much faster than I did! :)

Angel's were much more difficult...

I guess I don't have any of Grins in the Scavenger Hunt....because this is how he looked most of the day:

Angel joined him shortly thereafter (she's become a big fan of Legos this year!)

Wiggles, enjoying her "Tangled" book

These two, still hard at work!

After we had opened presents, eaten far too many sweets, and played with toys, we headed downtown and passed out hot chocolate and Christmas treats to pan handlers and homeless people there.  It was SO cold that most of them seemed very grateful for something hot to drink.  And it was good experience for all of us to think of others.  This year we have really tried to shift our focus away from gifts, and more toward Jesus, Charity and Service.  I filled our advent calendar with a small act of service each day, rather than candy, and the kids and I had so much fun doing them!  And Ollie, our "Elf on the Shelf", left ideas for kind acts of service we could do as well.  It was amazing to watch the children forget themselves and their 'wish lists', and instead focus on what they could do for others.  And our Christmas felt so much more meaningful to me, so it's definitely something we will continue - and improve on - each Christmas!

After going around town making our little deliveries, we attended Mass at the local cathedral.  It happened to be an African congregation, so we got quite the show of music, drums, dancing, etc - with a beautiful sermon about Christ.  It was wonderful.   

We are so grateful for Christmas - for the wonderful opportunity it is to pause to remember Jesus; His birth, His life, His ministry and, of course, His sacrifice and death for us, to enable us to return to Heaven again someday.  I'm also so grateful for the opportunity to have more time together as a family, with The Mr.  We see him so rarely that having him home on Christmas day was such a rare and special treat!  That alone made it a holiday in my book! :)