Christmas

On Christmas morning the boys were very excited to see what Santa brought them.  I need to back up and say that this year was a lot of fun prepping for Santa to come because the boys got it.  They had both written letters to Santa and had received some great letters back.  Luke asked for a 16 inch bike with training wheels and a Jack Hartman CD (educational kid songs), and Micah had asked for a candy cane and "a red bike that I get inside."  They asked LOTS of questions about how Santa fits down the chimney, where he lives, how he makes the toys, etc.  I'm glad that the boys have a minimal concept of magic because that was the answer to pretty much every question they asked.  Well, Santa delivered what they asked for, plus 1 extra present for each boy: bike for Micah, air hockey for Luke.  Santa had a little help from generous family members.

opening the Jack Hartman CD:

driving his truck:

Griffin got one or two treats as well.

Here he is with a new bone:

During the morning and afternoon we mostly played with new toys.  Lots of air hockey games and car driving.  Luke and Jared took a long bike ride in the afternoon while Micah napped and I did some cleaning (and maybe had a few winks.)  

That evening we had a nice dinner and then we tried to bring the focus back to the Savior and the reason for Christmas.  We did a felt story of the Nativity.  We talked about God's gift to us.  Then we reread this book:

It is about how we can remember and honor the Savior during the Christmas season.  On Christmas morning the little boy opens the box to see his family's gifts to the Savior.  There are slips of paper in the box with acts of service written on them:  gave food and blankets to the homeless, donated money for a well in Africa, etc.  Then we opened our own sparkle box.  We bought toys for 2 boys that live in a shelter, made cookies for our neighbors, paid our tithing, said family prayer each night, and read our scriptures.  These were our gifts to the Savior.  

Then we talked a little bit about repentance that it means to do better.  We talked a little bit about goals and deciding what we want to do better next year.  Then we wrote down our goals-- our gifts to the Savior-- and placed them in Jesus' white stocking.

These were really fun new traditions.  We just got the book from Debbi this year, and my cousin Emily told me about her white stocking tradition earlier in the month.  But these will be every year traditions for us.  They brought a lot of meaning to the day.

Then we had cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.  And that was our Christmas.  Hope yours was just as great!