Little Christmas

A week ago, I explained the difference between Big Christmas and Little Christmas (in a nutshell, Christmas with extended family v. Christmas with friends), which is a really good thing, because if you were to look at all the pictures in this post, you might happen to think that this was Big Christmas.  But no, it is indeed Little Christmas.

Having 19 people here for dinner on Little Christmas and only 16 people here for dinner on Big Christmas doesn't make much sense.  Fortunately, I gave up on the Always Be Logical quest long ago.  :)

When photos are many, words will be few.  Enjoy.  :)

 On Christmas morning, Jeff read from Bartholomew's Passage, the Advent book we've been enjoying this year.

 He also read the Christmas story from the Gospel of Matthew...

 ...and Shav practiced standing on his head.  Well, why not?  You can still hear in that position.  :)

 Josiah wanted the job of Gift-Passer-Outer, and the first gift he passed out was this one for Grandma.

 A box of cordial cherries, one of her favorite candies--the perfect gift for someone who doesn't want to accumulate more stuff.  :)

As always, when one child was opening a gift, one or two or more siblings were hovering nearby, eager to see what was within each package.  The joy and anticipation is multiplied.  :)

 One of the boys' favorite gifts was a set of four walkie-talkies.  :)

 David "helped" Moriah open one of her gifts: Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton.

 That was a book we had when Josiah was a baby, and I read it to him hundreds (thousands?) ;-) of times.  Somewhere along the way, we must have lost our copy, but I have such fond memories of that book, so I decided to get one for Moriah this year.

 I love this next series of photos, showing David opening his gift from Tobin, who was clearly thrilled to be giving David such a cool gift (a LEGO set).

 That spontaneous hug between David and Tobin, who used to be Sandpaper Boys to the nth degree?  Priceless.  :)

 Shav got a nutcracker to add to our collection.

 Besides Barnyard Dance, Moriah's other gift was this ball to sort of replace a bright pink squishy ball we had had and Moriah had loved until it got a hole in it and was more of a squishy pink pancake than a squishy pink ball.

 Part of the fun for Moriah was putting the ball in the bag and taking it out again.  And repeat.  :)

 When I took David Christmas shopping, he found this shield-that-turns-into-a-crossbow thing for Josiah and was certain he would love it because of the connection to one of their favorite movies, How to Train Your Dragon.  I noticed though that David REALLY would have liked to have it for himself, so guess what I encouraged Josiah to get for David when I was helping Josiah with his shopping later?  Yep, they gave each other the same thing...and couldn't have been happier.  ;-)

 After the gifts were all opened, Josiah kindly helped his younger brothers with a complicated LEGO building project...

 ...while I cleaned up the wrapping paper and gifts in the living room (see my lovely mother there smoothing and folding tissue paper that we can reuse?) :) and worked on preparing lunch (Jeff helped a lot with that, since we had chalupas and needed lots of ingredients chopped--like onions, tomatoes, lettuce, etc.).

 And then our guests arrived, some of whom were the wonderful Goodwin family.  :)

 I got busy and didn't take many pictures--just a few of the afternoon's entertainment.

 Somebody was exhausted.  :)

 Later that night, Jeff helped Tobin and Shav build wooden creatures that they could then paint (one of their great delights in life right now!).

And so, Little Christmas drew to a close, filled to the brim with the kind of loving fellowship with family and friends that comes only as a gift from a loving Father.

He's the best Gift-Giver of all!!  :)

The Night before Christmas

I've written before about how incredibly fond I am of Christmas Eve (maybe I say something to this effect every year?).  This year was no exception.  Christmas Eve might possibly be my favorite night of the entire year.

Right after supper was over (spaghetti and Italian bread, this year) and while Jeff was still doing our Advent reading, the boys hurried to get out their sleeping bags, even though it wasn't bedtime yet.  They were SO excited.  Can't imagine who they get that from.  ;-)

Jeff had left work early and had gone by the store to pick up a few things we needed for our meal the next day.  He also found a few little surprises for his boys: bamboo staffs (they fight imaginary enemies with those!), superhero stickers (that's what Tobin is holding), some drill bits for Josiah to replace one that he borrowed and broke.  :)

Eventually it was time for their official Christmas Eve presents.  They each get one...

...and this year, it was a book.

Look & Find books (similar to Where's Waldo, but a little easier) for both Tobin and Shav...

...and for David...

...a joke book (maybe we'll do another month of jokes on his blog when January rolls around?)...  :)

...and as a bonus gift, a new sleeper!  It's a tradition for the boys to each wear a sleeper on Christmas Eve (and I noticed tonight, as I looked at previous blog posts about Christmas Eve, that Josiah has worn the same one for the past three years...looking at how he's grown and how much he had to maneuver to get his sleeper on this year, I'm thinking that come next year, he'll definitely have to have a new one!).  At some point last winter, the zipper on David's sleeper broke; and after consultation with my Old Order Mennonite neighbors, I decided that it wasn't worth it to try to have it fixed.  So we gave that old sleeper to cloth recycling, and I looked for a new one for David for this year.  A number of times in the days leading up to Christmas Eve, David remarked about how he wished he had a sleeper to wear this year; and each time, I tried to hide a smile and play dumb.  :)

Moriah, meanwhile, was watching all the action from one of her favorite spots to perch in the living room.  :)

Josiah's book was the first in a series called The Wormling (and, not to jump ahead or anything, the next day, we gave him the rest of the series, four of which he has already read; he reads incredibly fast).

Grandpa and Grandma were here to watch the fun.  :)

Moriah decided she'd relax before bedtime by playing a little game of chess.  ;-)

I'm pretty sure she won.  ;-)

Eventually, all the boys got into their sleepers, brushed their teeth, and laid down for the night.

And then popped back up to tell me how HARD it was to go to sleep and how EXCITING it was to see the presents under the tree and WHEN was I going to come to bed and so on.

I think Josiah was the first to fall asleep; but oddly, he woke up after an hour or two and then had such a hard time going back to sleep (not because he wasn't comfortable, but because he was excited) that he actually ended up going upstairs and sleeping in his bed!

There are no pictures to prove it; but after I did the dishes and finished preparations for the next day, I laid down on the couch, read from my Bible by the light of the Christmas tree, looked around at all the precious sleeping faces in that one room, then happily--so happily--fell asleep.

Oh, I do love Christmas Eve!