Christmas 2010

I'm going to start off by being completely honest. My name is Scrooge. This is not a recent development, mind you. Even before I got married and had kids I felt this way. Decorating for Christmas does not thrill me. It seems like too much work. My house isn't really decorated the other 11 months of the year so why on earth would I decorate for one month?

Our living room genuinely doesn't have a lot of room for a Christmas tree. Ask people who've been to my house! I don't have a corner that has more than 18 inches of room around it. So this year, we opted to not try to cram one in. My kids were so sad. I know, I'm mean. But in an effort to console them, Raymond wanted to buy a 3 1/2 foot tree for their bedroom that they could decorate. That is pretty much the extent of the decorating we had around here. I did put a centerpiece on the table and hung up the Christmas cards I received but that's about it. I know, I know, Scrooge.

Even putting together a Christmas card, while normally very exciting and something I look forward to all year, wasn't something I wanted to do this year. I did one, but rather reluctantly and didn't really even like the final result. Oh well. I'll try to post the card and the fake "newsletter" here soon.

Thankfully, Christmas is NOT all about decorating, parties, baking, activities, etc. I think we try to cram too much into the season and we're left feeling grouchy and burned out halfway through the month. My little family had to keep things simple for my sanity's sake. I get stressed out easily enough as it is, adding on a whole lot of expectations doesn't help.

Christmas Eve we had our Sunday School Christmas Program at church that evening. It was simple and sweet. The congregation sang a few hymns together, the choir sang a few songs, the kids sang "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and "Gentle Mary". A few people read passages of Scripture. It was a beautiful program. If I can acquire some of the video my father-in-law took, I'll try to post some of it.

The kids each had a piece to memorize and recite for everyone. Each and every one of them did an amazing job. Not one child stumbled or forgot a word. It went so smoothly!


Yeah, that's me on the right. Somehow I became children's choir director and recital helper this year. Oh, probably because I sing the loudest at church (no joke) and no one else wanted to do it. Ha ha! It's what happens when your entire church has about 50 people.

Our church was formed almost 100 years ago in 1919 when most (all? I have no idea) of the members spoke German. It is a huge tradition every year to sing the first verse of Silent Night in German after first singing the hymn in English.

Um, I don't know any German, and couldn't even attempt to sing in German even with the words printed out for me. So I staged a rebellion and decided to sign the verse in American Sign Language. My husband totally made fun of me for that. I was in the very front row too so I'm sure everyone could see me. Hi, my name is Sunny and I'm going to do things my way. *Ahem* I promise I was just being silly and not trying to offend anyone! We are a tiny church and everyone is very close so I'm sure if it was a problem I would have heard about it by now.

My little sweeties!

After the program, we went home and got ready for bed. We traditionally let the boys open one gift on Christmas Eve, and it is always a new pair of pajamas. They were thrilled with their warm, fuzzy clothes.
They crawled into bed, eagerly awaiting Christmas morning.

(Did you notice their tree and their new bedding?)

Christmas morning arrived and the presents were waiting on the coffee table.
We're still following the something to read, something to wear, something to play with and something to share rule.

Jonah got up first.
Then Nathan came into the room.
Groggy but ready to open gifts! The boys had each received a Pillow Pet from their great-grandparents the night before and Nathan loved his.




They got a few of books, a couple Wii games and a movie.
Nathan got a big Buzz Lightyear toy. (Doll? Very large action figure?)
After we opened gifts, we got ready for church. Our church has a Christmas morning worship service every year. This was the first year I think that I actually looked forward to it. I used to whine about it to my husband, Why do we have to go to church on Christmas morning? But I'm finally growing up and really appreciated going to worship our King and keeping the focus on Jesus.

During the service we read responsively from the Psalms and when I read aloud Psalm 8:4 along with the congregation, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him? it caused tears to form in my eyes. We as human beings are so little in this vast universe, and to think about how He chose to send His son to be born on earth, to die for us, to redeem us and reconcile us to God, it takes my breath away.

The last hymn we sang was "To God Be the Glory" and the first verse goes like this, To God be the glory, great things he hath done! So loved he the world that he gave us his Son, Who yielded his life an atonement for sin, And opened the lifegate that we may go in. Forget singing loudly, I could barely choke out the words. All of a sudden all of the busyness with the holiday season, the cutesy things that I didn't do, the stress and frustration I had felt over the last month melted away. This is what Christmas is all about. Nothing else matters. It was one of the most beautiful Christmases I've ever experienced.

After the 10:00 service, we went home and had a little time to rest, chat with my side of the family on our videophone, and get ready to head over to spend the rest of the day with Raymond's family.

I didn't get a lot of pictures that day, only some of the gift opening.

Little Cohen is waiting for everything to start.
Grandpa read the Christmas story from the Bible and prayed before we began.


The rest of the day was spent feasting and visiting. A few of us stuck around to play a game and we laughed until we cried at times. It was such a good day! We left after 10 pm, eeek, and hurried home to bed so we could be ready for church the next morning.

After it was all said and done, Raymond and I got to talking. We think we're going to start a new family tradition. We're going to treat December 24th as our Christmas day. We'll get up and stay in our pajamas and open gifts on Christmas Eve morning. This way it is relaxed, there is no rushing around, and the kids can enjoy their gifts. I don't want the boys to start resenting the fact that we have church every Christmas morning, or that we spend the rest of the day with family at someone else's house and we're not home all day to play with their new toys or games. This way we can have the best of both worlds, time to just be a family of 4 and enjoy one another, and yet still have a day where the focus is on Christ and family.

Sounds like a plan to me!