Christmas Morning

We have always had a tradition of having a Nativity set minus Jesus before Christmas. The kids would know it was Christmas when Jesus appeared in the manger. They are old enough that this is just tradition now, but they still want to see it on Christmas Morning.


Mom's nativity

Early Christmas Morning all the kids were awake but Daddy wasn't. Here is their solution!


Jesus' Birthday Cake

Happy Birthday to Jesus.


The reading of the Christmas Story from Luke 4

Stockings always come first.


Chocolate Oranges are always a hit!

We also pre-bought movie tickets to "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" to see later in the day. I think they were excited!

C's humor. It's a stocking, right?

Mom and Dad got stocking stuffers too!


All of the kids wrapped their presents to the others all by themselves this year.

This is what it is all about. Seeing joy on the faces of those you gave to.





Priceless



R bought this gift for me and wrapped it sometime ago and couldn't wait for me to open it.



The kids picked presents out for Phillip too. Here he is with his new "Beverly Hillbillies" DVD's.

Anybody who knows me knows I love penguins. Here is are the gifts from the kids.




R was very pleased with his gift for Dad, as was Dad

Merry Christmas to all!

Jesus' Birthday Cake

We also make Jesus' birthday cake on Christmas Eve to celebrate his birthday the next morning. We always have His birthday cake for breakfast. We sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, have breakfast and then open presents. Here they are working on it.



Some needed a little bit of help with all that icing!



The finished product.

It has a tree to represent the everlasting life we have with Jesus. An angel who was the messenger that announced His birth, the 3 crosses that were a foreshadowing of what was to come, then the name Jesus with the J in the form of a cross. The cake was chocolate to represent our sins and had white icing to represent the purity we receive from Christ when He covers our sins completely.

Christmas Eve

Every Christmas Eve the kids get to open one present. It is always new pajamas. However, since it was no longer a surprise we "tricked" them into believing I had forgot them this year. Since I do forget a lot, this was easy to pull off. R was so sweet when he came to me secretly and asked if he could give them one of the presents he had bought each of them. I thought this was so sweet of him and said "Yes! Absolutely".

He had bought them each a pair of slippers from the dollar store. Here they are! Aren't they great?


R got these since he didn't get a new pair of slippers.

The slippers roar and now so does R!

Then we did s'mores.


Finally the charade was over and we let them open their new pajamas!




After changing into their new pajamas we did our Advent Reading of Jotham's Journey.
First we light the candles, each representing different aspects of salvation...repentance, hope.

Then we gather together and read.

This year we decided to let them open one family gift early.

They really liked it! The game Clue, DVD version.


Then we played the game. R won! Then it was time for all kids to settle down for a long winter's nap. I think they finally fell asleep sometime after 2am!

Merry Christmas

As we enter into the day we choose to celebrate the birth of Christ, let's remember that Christ is "The Ultimate Gift". He is the gift that fills the gap that separates us from God. Without Christ there is no hope. So Rejoice! For unto us a child is born whose name is Christ the Lord!
Merry Christmas from us all.