Sharing Christmas

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

The mayhem of Christmas is over and I managed to come out sane.

I don't understand why Christmas is so stressful, when it is a time for remembering our Christ Jesus. I guess I have gotten caught up in the commercial aspect of it all. I am going to make it an ongoing resolution to create projects throughout the year, open a Christmas saving funds, and start some of my shopping in September. I hope to keep it!

As the years pass on, I realize that Samantha is enjoying Christmas not so much for the gifts, but the fact that she will be sharing that time with family and creating traditions. Our Christmas tradition since we have moved into our new home is having a Christmas Eve party with friends and family. We usually play board games, eat, and enjoy a cocktail or two, three, or four... to the wee hours in the morning. This year my nephew, Jeff, decided to entertain us with his acoustic guitar as we sang Christmas Carols. I think the rest of us need voice lessons or at least prepare us with script before the performance. It was great fun though!

Christmas Day did not start so early, because of the late night Christmas Eve festivities. As as the kids get older, the idea of getting up early and opening presents isn't as exciting as sleeping in. We did get up around mid-morning to start cooking and got ready for the Christmas day activities. The kids (more like tweens) decided to wait for the adults to open their gifts. After a late lunch, we dove into the presents. We decided this year instead of everyone opening their gifts at once we would watch as each individual opened their gifts. We started from the youngest to the oldest. As usual Samantha took the longest, because her pile was so big. Gift cards was the gift giving choice this year. I hate cards, but because of my tardiness in buying presents, I was compelled to purchase them.

Samantha got a Guitar Hero for her Wii from Santa. I think everyone enjoyed playing it as much as she did. She is getting pretty good at it too! The rest of the family gave her clothes, which she so desperately needed. I received cash, gift cards, some new dishes, and a Zutter machine. I can't wait to start to use the machine in making my own mini-binders. Hector received mostly clothes. For some reason this was the under garment Christmas, because everyone seemed to get a new pair of underwear or socks.

Overall it was a great Christmas and everything came together after my panic of not being organized.