I hope that everyone had a very merry Christmas. Here at the Smith house we had a wonderful Christmas. It was very exciting for us because this was the first year that Emma was really able to understand the Christmas traditions. We went to the children's mass on Christmas Eve and Emma kept asking "When is baby Jesus going to get here?". Finally when mass was over we went out to the large Nativity outside and she was able to see the baby Jesus lying in the manger.
After mass we had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner and then it was bedtime for the kids so that Santa could come. Emma left cookies and milk for Santa and "Reindeer Food" for Rudolph. Our reindeer food was a scoop of oats, grits and corn meal will a healthy sprinkle of blue glitter for flying magic and a big fat carrot. We put it out on the front walk for easy nibbling. By the way, reindeer are VERY messy eaters.
On Christmas morning, Mary and I actually woke up before the kids. As we were lying in bed wondering when the kids would wake up, we could hear Emma in the hallway telling Andy "I have to go wake up Mama and Daddy - Its Christmas!" Mary and I pretended to be asleep when Emma came in and shouted "Merry Christmas!"
Once we went downstairs Emma saw the presents under the Christmas tree for the first time and she was in awe. She checked the cookies and milk-GONE! She checked the reindeer food- EVERYWHERE! She ran over to the presents and said "Did Santa bring my mermaid?". All this time, Andy is trotting behind very excitedly. Fortunately Santa did bring Emma a mermaid and it was the first present she opened, but she didn't know what a mermaid was to begin with so she looked at it like "This is a mermaid?" Emma also got some Cinderella dress up clothes and an Easy Bake Oven! Andy wasn't quite sure what was going on, but he knew it was fun and he was very happy to have some new toys.
Renee gave Mary and I a wonderful Christmas present by sleeping through the night. She first slept for about 6-7 hours on her 8 week birthday and for the last 5 or 6 nights has slept from about 10 pm to 7 am! This just may be the best Christmas present ever!
Christmas day was a fantastic day of food, fun, and family. We just hung out around the house playing with the kids and watching "A Christmas Story" about 5 times. Unfortunatly it was a balmy 55 degrees here on Christmas, so no white Christmas for us this year.
We are very blessed to have 3 happy, healthy kids and wonderful family and friends. We were sure to remember that this day was a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and we tried to incorporate that celebration in to many of our Christmas traditions.
I am so glad you had such a wonderful Christmas!! I cannot believe that it's actually almost 2006! It's AMAZING how the year has come and gone.
ReplyDeleteHave a very Happy, Healthy and Safe New Years and we'll talk soon!
Love, Jess