Remembering Christmas 2007
It’s all down. No more red and green in my house. As much as I love putting it up, I love the way the house “feels” when I take it all down. It’s as close to the feeling of “minimalist” as I ever get. My love of pretty things, sentimental things vetoes the minimalist idea in my house. Since I know 2008 will be here when I awaken in the morning and Christmas will officially be over, there are things about our Christmas I’d love to linger over a while. It slips by like dusk to dark and these things I don’t want forget.
Sweet prayers from a 5 year old thanking God for sending Jesus as a baby and asking that Celebrate Christmas would change people’s lives
Brighton NEVER forgetting to pull a link off the chain or read from the “door book”
Learning that Julia’s favorite home made Christmas candy is “Aunt Patsy’s White Chocolate Candy” and Brighton’s is “Chocolate Drops” dropped on a twisted pretzel
Jeff almost seeming to enjoy watching me shop for myself, from my Mother recovering from knee surgery—patiently, too
Brighton doing his cave man dance for Celebrate Christmas viewers when we did the family scene
Finding out that wrapped presents will stay wrapped when you put them under the tree a few days before Christmas
Watching brother and sister exchange gifts
Julia being so excited about being in Celebrate Christmas even though the weather was COLD—on anyone’s thermometer
Not “rockin’ around the Christmas tree” nearly enough
Hearing Brighton’s loud exclamation of “Oh my goodness!!” as he unwrapped packages and running to put presents “where ‘dey’ belong”
Being proud of their thankfulness
Brighton being so excited about the “road trip”
Julia saying that her favorite gift was getting to see all her family and cousins and proceeding to name every one
Brighton being hit hard with a fever right as we started opening presents at Nanna and Papaw’s and giving in to sleep in the middle of the floor
Sweet prayers from a 5 year old thanking God for sending Jesus as a baby and asking that Celebrate Christmas would change people’s lives
Brighton NEVER forgetting to pull a link off the chain or read from the “door book”
Learning that Julia’s favorite home made Christmas candy is “Aunt Patsy’s White Chocolate Candy” and Brighton’s is “Chocolate Drops” dropped on a twisted pretzel
Jeff almost seeming to enjoy watching me shop for myself, from my Mother recovering from knee surgery—patiently, too
Brighton doing his cave man dance for Celebrate Christmas viewers when we did the family scene
Finding out that wrapped presents will stay wrapped when you put them under the tree a few days before Christmas
Watching brother and sister exchange gifts
Julia being so excited about being in Celebrate Christmas even though the weather was COLD—on anyone’s thermometer
Not “rockin’ around the Christmas tree” nearly enough
Hearing Brighton’s loud exclamation of “Oh my goodness!!” as he unwrapped packages and running to put presents “where ‘dey’ belong”
Being proud of their thankfulness
Brighton being so excited about the “road trip”
Julia saying that her favorite gift was getting to see all her family and cousins and proceeding to name every one
Brighton being hit hard with a fever right as we started opening presents at Nanna and Papaw’s and giving in to sleep in the middle of the floor
Julia not keeping her big new cool Pet Shoppe house because "the one I have now holds all of my pets just fine".
Jeff going to great lengths to make sure I got anything he had heard me so much as mention
Brighton, when given the choice between sleeping in a pack and play or on a pallet at Meema and Doodle’s, choosing the pack and play……….hands down
Being struck by the conversation in Soperton around the dinner table—words that just don’t show up around my dinner table – bobcat, truck bed, drainage ditch, coyotes, duck hunting, deer blinds, beggar’s pasture
Brighton saying once he woke up from his fever, “Can we do Christmas again?”
There is one more thing that happened just today that I thought was interesting. When I went upstairs to get the kids up and ready for our sad day of taking down decorations, I asked them to pick out 2 things that they were ready to “pass on”. To my surprise, it went well—mostly chalked up to “I am too big for that” or “That’s a baby toy” but a few things shocked me. I then began replacing the “baby” toys with their new Christmas plunder. Once they finished breakfast, instead of making a bee line back upstairs to play with their newly acquired stuff, they made tunnels, bridges, tents, homes and roads with the lids to all my Christmas storage boxes. This eventually turned into “dog show” where Julia was, of course, the owner and trainer of a “2nd prize winner” dog by the name of - what I heard- “Lotka”. (When asked where the name of her prize winning dog came from, she looked at me as if I had lost MY mind and said, “You know, like pancakes.” Happy Hanukah?) My point—they never went upstairs on their own accord. I don’t think I need to comment on that much, but it struck me as funny. All the shopping, all the lists—I should have known. Their toys will certainly be played with…. often, but today they chose each other and their own imaginations.
All this is insignificant to anyone else but us—or maybe just me. Next year I will be taking a Christmas road trip with my husband of 16 years, an almost 7 year old and a 5 year old. How is that possible? May I not forget these sweet times with little ones under our roof nor miss any opportunity to make it special for them. And most importantly, may our Christmases always point them to our good God who gives us EVERY reason to celebrate.
Jeff going to great lengths to make sure I got anything he had heard me so much as mention
Brighton, when given the choice between sleeping in a pack and play or on a pallet at Meema and Doodle’s, choosing the pack and play……….hands down
Being struck by the conversation in Soperton around the dinner table—words that just don’t show up around my dinner table – bobcat, truck bed, drainage ditch, coyotes, duck hunting, deer blinds, beggar’s pasture
Brighton saying once he woke up from his fever, “Can we do Christmas again?”
There is one more thing that happened just today that I thought was interesting. When I went upstairs to get the kids up and ready for our sad day of taking down decorations, I asked them to pick out 2 things that they were ready to “pass on”. To my surprise, it went well—mostly chalked up to “I am too big for that” or “That’s a baby toy” but a few things shocked me. I then began replacing the “baby” toys with their new Christmas plunder. Once they finished breakfast, instead of making a bee line back upstairs to play with their newly acquired stuff, they made tunnels, bridges, tents, homes and roads with the lids to all my Christmas storage boxes. This eventually turned into “dog show” where Julia was, of course, the owner and trainer of a “2nd prize winner” dog by the name of - what I heard- “Lotka”. (When asked where the name of her prize winning dog came from, she looked at me as if I had lost MY mind and said, “You know, like pancakes.” Happy Hanukah?) My point—they never went upstairs on their own accord. I don’t think I need to comment on that much, but it struck me as funny. All the shopping, all the lists—I should have known. Their toys will certainly be played with…. often, but today they chose each other and their own imaginations.
All this is insignificant to anyone else but us—or maybe just me. Next year I will be taking a Christmas road trip with my husband of 16 years, an almost 7 year old and a 5 year old. How is that possible? May I not forget these sweet times with little ones under our roof nor miss any opportunity to make it special for them. And most importantly, may our Christmases always point them to our good God who gives us EVERY reason to celebrate.
Comments
I haven't sat down long enough alone to type out my Christmas memories...I need to get that down soon...what to you hear what Holden said when we got home on Christmas Day!!