Christmas Day 2011

We had a great Christmas day at home!  I had to feed Aubrey first thing in the morning, so when Caleb woke up, Daddy had to go in his room with him to stall for a while.  I wanted to be ready to take pictures of him so we had to keep him in his room while I finished feeding sister.  He got a little antsy and didn't understand why he couldn't come out!  I finally finished up with Aubrey and then the boys came out to see what Santa had brought.  Santa might have been a little too generous with gifts for Caleb this year, but from what I hear Mrs. Claus got a lot of great deals and stayed within the Christmas budget - ha!  :-)

(sidenote - after being married for 6 years, we still do not have a tree topper!  I can't find one I like!)

first glimpse at the goodies

"what's all the fuss about, mama?"

"oh, I have new toys!"

this picture cracks me up!

obviously, he was the most excited about his new yard equipment!

he would not sit still and I kept moving around trying to get a picture of his face, but just wasn't quick enough.  he was super excited!

were you wondering where Aubrey was during all of this?  she got sleepy and had to take a nap!

the weedeater didn't work so Daddy worked a little magic and got it going!

"that was fun!"

up from her nap...with her new doll!  how sweet is she?!

Aubrey and Daddy

Caleb's reaction to being asked to sit still for a pic with his sister...

I get each of the kids an ornament and the one family ornament every year.  For the family ornament, I try my best to find one (from Hallmark) that best represents that year.  This one was PERFECT!  It's a mama and daddy snowman with a son and daughter!  It even looks like the boy is the older one because he's a little bigger than the girl.  I had to snatch it up when I found it!

Although we do the whole Santa thing, we definitely want our children to know and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas as they grow up.  We talk with Caleb about God and Jesus on a regular basis, and we have the Nativity for the kids to play and learn with during the Christmas season.  It's tough right now in these early years because 2-year-olds understand toys....they do not understand the birth of our Saviour.  I pray that we would always be intentional each Christmas season to place the emphasis on celebrating Jesus' birth and not Santa's gifts.  I was going to do an advent calendar/activity with Caleb this year but with adjusting to life with 2 kids, it just never happened.  Next year, we will definitely do that as I think Caleb will be able to understand a little more.  Eventually, we would also like to go to Christmas Eve service at church and make that a tradition, but that is also a challenge with little ones as they do not have childcare during those services.  If anyone has any other ideas on how to maintain a Christ-centered Christmas with your kids, please share!