Some Thoughts About Christmas

Before this Christmas season began, I knew I wanted to do things differently. I was afraid we were falling into the trap of Christmas becoming a gift giving free-for-all. Growing up the only religious experience I connected to Christmas was an occasional visit to Midnight Mass with my Grandpa. I don't really remember doing things for others or focusing on the reason for the season, and I want things to be different for my children.

I decided that we would do an advent calendar that had an activity for each day. Some of the activities were fun, like baking cookies or making a craft, some were simple like reading a Christmas book, and others were focused on giving, like picking out gifts for kids on the angel tree or shopping for your sibling. We also spent a descent amount of time talking about the nativity in our front room and why we have Christmas.

As a result, it's not even Christmas yet, but I feel like we've had a great holiday. We didn't go overboard buying gifts for the kids. The kids learned about the joy of giving to others and made some new connections between Christmas and our savior. Overall I think we're on the right path and I couldn't be happier.

Our family wishes you a very Merry Christmas. We hope you take a moment this season to ponder the greatest gift of all, that of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Christmas!

The flag cake for Jesus' birthday (at Ryan's request)

Uncle Perry reading "Red Ranger Came Calling" on Christmas Eve

Christmas morning in our matching PJ's

A few days before Christmas, I asked Ryan if he remembered why we have Christmas. His response? "For bicycles?" "No honey," I reminded him, "we have Christmas to celebrate Jesus' birthday." "Mommy, Jesus needs a birthday cake," he replied. "What kind of cake?" I asked. "A flag cake." I have no idea where he got that idea, except that he loves flags and always points them out. Anyway, a couple of days later we were talking about baby Jesus and Ryan again brought up the flag cake. At his age, it's hard to know exactly what he understands but he obviously associates birthdays with birthday cakes, so I decided we'd go with the whole flag cake thing.

Christmas Eve was really fun. We invited our friends the Kastanis' and the Albertsen's over for lasagna and we read "Red Ranger Came Calling" and watched A Wish for Wings that Work. These are both Kastanis family traditions that they shared with us a few years ago, and they have become part of our tradition now as well. That night we opened our Christmas PJ's before heading to bed. Christmas morning the kids let us sleep until 8:30. We got up and Ryan was SO excited to find the bicycle he had asked for from Santa. Annie fell in love with her wagon and stayed in it all morning. I'd help her open a gift then she'd sit in the wagon and play with it for a while. It was really cute. Later that afternoon we headed to Bryan's parents for steak and crab legs with the whole Colby clan, and later headed home for a relaxing evening.

Overall it was a wonderful Christmas, definitely our best yet. We hope you had a very Merry Christmas as well!

Our Best Christmas Yet

Make a Smilebox slideshow

This year we had a very enjoyable, low key Christmas.

On Christmas Eve we went to Bryan's parents house for Italian food and a white elephant gift exchange. Afterwards we headed over to our friends the Kastanis's to read Luke 2 and a really cool book that they read every year called Red Ranger Came Calling. This is the second year we've gone over there for Christmas Eve and we're grateful that they include us in their annual tradition.

Christmas morning we slept until around 9:00 when Bryan woke Ryan up and rounded up the rest of us. Ryan absolutely love his kitchen that we had set up the night before, and for about an hour and a half, we couldn't even get his interest enough to open any other gifts! We took our time opening the rest of the gifts, and Bryan made us a fantastic breakfast.

That afternoon we headed back to Bryan's parents for steak and crab legs, and to open the gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. Ryan got a really cool Little Tikes fire truck that we cannot keep him out of. That night we went back to the Kastanis' to exchange gifts and enjoy some more dessert.

All in all, it was a fantastic couple of days. Having Bryan home for 4 days made it even better. And of course our greatest gift this year, our sweet Annie, was the icing on the cake.

Santa!

In Bryan's parent's neighborhood there is a house that does Santa every year. We have been meaning to take Ryan to the mall to get a photo with Santa, but we drove by this house the other night when we were looking at lights, and they had a sign that said they took donations for the pictures, and the donations went to support a local nonprofit. We thought that sounded better than dealing with the crowds and lines at the mall, so tonight we stopped by (Santa only comes by on Sundays).

These people have a really nice courtyard in front of their house where Santa hangs out and while you're waiting for your pictures to print, they have hot cocoa and cookies. Oh, and when you walk up to where Santa is sitting, they make it snow. I think the snow was actually soap suds, but it looked pretty real.

In any case, it was a fun activity and we got a great picture of Ryan with Santa!

Mesa Temple Lights

Ryan is at a stage where he LOVES anything that moves or lights up, so we thought he would enjoy the Christmas lights at the Mesa Temple. The evening wasn't too chilly and we had a great time walking around and looking at all of the lights and feeling the Spirit that is always present on the temple grounds.

Apparently the whole exxperience was exhausting for Ryan, as evidenced by the photo below, taken at dinner following the lights: