Can I just say that Christmas gets better with each passing year? I think that our Christmas experience is better a) the more kids we have and b) the older these kids get. I am loving Christmas more and more.
This post is one of those posts I write so that my kids will have a recap in 20 years. So, bear with me a moment as I recap the Loving family Christmas of 2009:
Christmas WIN:
Sending out Christmas cards.
Christmas FAIL:
Sending out Christmas cards on December 23rd.
Christmas WIN:
Keeping our Christmas Eve eve tradition alive. Per the usual, we had a sack of Krystal burgers in a picnic on the floor while watching cheesy Christmas movies. It’s why the girls call Krystal burgers “Christmas burgers.” And it is one of my favorite Christmas traditions.
Christmas FAIL:
Planning to make delicious homemade bread and butter as gifts for friends & family and then coming down with the plague the weekend before Christmas. That will teach us to wait until the last minute to do those things.
Christmas WIN:
Our church set out on a mission to encourage the congregation to commit “Intentional Acts of Christmas” throughout the holiday season. It made Christmas so amazing and it is a habit we’re planning to continue throughout the year. Our Intentional Acts of Christmas were as follows: provide 3 days worth of food for 6 families who are suffering from food insecurity, pay for the food of the stranger in the drive-thru behind us, leave a tip for our server equal to the amount of our bill, bring doughnuts to our local fire station. By the end of the month, the kids were looking for ways to help people all around us and it caused them to think of everyday places and experiences differently. It caused us to look at the world around us with potential kind deeds in mind and I we’re going to turn this into a tradition of committing Intentional Acts of Kindness throughout the year.
Christmas FAIL:
Feeling guilty about finally having the “simpler” Christmas I’ve been wanting for years. We finally had a Christmas with fewer presents and less waste. And while I should have felt relieved not to have extra crap all over the house, I mostly felt like I didn’t love my kids enough to buy them tons of stuff they didn’t need in the first place. Which should show you how deeply entrenched I am in the whole commercialized/materialistic/presents=love mentality. And that is a little scary.
Christmas WIN:
My kids on the other hand? They didn’t notice a thing. The only thing on their Christmas list (I kid you not) was a snow globe so when they had piles of presents under the tree they were thrilled. Then they discovered Santa brought them kittens and, well, it was the best Christmas in Loving family history. So, go us.
Which brings us to…
Christmas WIN/FAIL:
Kittens. On the one hand, it is nice to have snuggly warm kittens playing all over the house. On the other hand, more animals?!?!?!? And also, they started climbing the Christmas tree two hours into Christmas and I can’t imagine what insane hijinks they’ll be up to next. I think Thomas secretly thinks I agreed to kittens because I realized that it could potentially provide tons and tons of good blogging material.
So, was it the best Christmas on the books for the Lovings? I think so. It was simple and peaceful and filled with good friends and family. And, really, what more could you ask for?
