remembering the meaning

After Christmas eve at Dave's parents house...we were at home, just the 4 of us for Christmas day.

The morning started out with stockings...I LOVE this sock monkey! I had one when I was little...I think it was handmade, but now they are manufacturing them. He was adorable sticking out of the top of Mason's stocking!If you've been reading our blog, you know what our condition was in the week or so leading up to Christmas. With this being said...NOTHING was getting done at our house. NOTHING! Not the grocery shopping, not the baking, not the cleaning, BARELY the wrapping of presents. What a time to be sick...when the TO DO lists are longer than ever.

The first day we all were pretty much better was Christmas eve....and we spent that whole day away from the house with Dave's side of the family...and came home really late. So nothing got done then either.

So let me just give you a recap of Christmas morning at our house...

We usually wake up with my family at the house with us...not this year. They stayed away a bit longer so we could all get over our sickness. So as much as it was nice having it be just us that morning, it was also weird....when you're used to something being a certain way, it just doesn't seem right. We were very glad when they finally joined us the day after Christmas.

The breakfast casserole and coffee cake never got prepared....so what now?

We decided on pancakes. After they were made, we found out there was no syrup.

There was also no toilet paper in the house.

The birthday cake for Jesus didn't get made (should have been done a day or 2 in advance). We had said we wanted to always have a little birthday party to remember what this day is truly about before opening presents. We couldn't just skip this. I had to think of something.

So a stack of pancakes it was. No candles though. I searched and searched. There was a #2 candle we could have used. But then I found a bag of tealights. NOTHING like I had planned.

Taylor was grumpy all morning from staying up too late the night before.

We had planned a yummy Christmas meal, but things never got bought...and I wasn't going to cook all that for just us anyway. So we scrounged for lunch. I HATE scrounging for food. And it's SO not fun to do on Christmas, when we normally would have a smorgasboard of food of all kinds!

The day went on....nothing was going right, nothing like I had planned. At one point I could feel tears coming on...feeling like a failure that it wasn't that "perfect Christmas day", whatever that is anyway.

Then I realized how silly I was being for getting upset over these small things. What IS Christmas supposed to be? I had to take a minute and stop to remember and remind myself that all these little things that I had planned are not what Christmas truly is. It's not about a yummy breakfast or the perfect candle on the perfect birthday cake for Jesus. It's not about having the house clean or stocked...or even about having toilet paper!

It's about the birth of that miraculous baby boy.

And it's about celebrating him in our lives.

So I decided to end the pity party and continue on with this day...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!

(like the candle?)

This was definitely the highlight for Taylor....a doll house!and a Barbie and car to complete it...Nothing like finding some great "dress up" items on clearance after Halloween...

She doesn't know who Hannah Montana is yet...but she loves this wig anyway!You know this was coming... And while we're dressing everyone up...might as well get Anni in on it!lounging on her new chair from Aunt Rebekah...FINALLY....some boy toys!!!

Here's the best part...my MOPS group did a toy exchange before Christmas. For every toy we brought in, we could pick a new one out! Well, not exactly new, but new to us! So this dump truck was FREE! The $20 dump truck I had just gotten at Walmart went back! A toy swap every year sounds great to me! This is another favorite....the night before, she got a cute backpack that included a flashlight, waterbottle, sleeping bag and tent...all for $25!!! And to think I saw this on someone's blog way back in September and sent my sister-in-law to Target immediately to pick it up! I am loving the bright, fun colors!And just a random one of my 2 favorite guys...

hard to believe that little guy will be 1 in 2 months!I definitely feel silly for getting all caught up in the little meaningless things and forgetting for a minute what Christmas is really about....and forgetting to notice all the blessings around me. I'm a planner...and when things are out of whack and disorganized, I have to admit I can definitely get bent out of shape. But this wasn't the day to do it. I'm sure in years to come, there will be even more things that will get thrown at me that will make it easy to lose focus on the real reason for this day....so I'm thankful for the lesson learned this year.