Our Christmas in Springtown

The stockings are empty...

The presents unwrapped...

Now it's time for...a nap! For Mom and Dad anyway!

The kids are all happily enjoying their new stuff ~ shooting nerf darts at each other, building with Lincoln Logs or LEGOS, or maybe reading a new book. And Robert and I went back to bed. When the alarm went off at 6:50 this morning (yes, we now have to make sure we set an alarm. After a couple of years of the kids having to work hard to wake us up, even calling us on our cell phones one year, we have to set an alarm to get up now!) I told Robert to go tell the kids that we were putting Christmas morning off until 9 AM this year. Well, when we got in there, the boys were all still asleep! Haley was the only one awake and reading her under-the-pillow book. We really could have done it!

After our nap (that was several hours long) we got up to a wonderful lunch. We don't do the traditional lunch at our house because my kids are less than thrilled with turkey and dressing and all the fixings. So we decided a few years back that we would do something else for our Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. This year we had...Sil Panchos. This is the most wonderful dish Amber brought back from her time in Bolivia. Maybe in the next blog I'll tell you all about getting drunk with Pedro, but for now, I'll stick to Christmas in Springtown :-)

Robert got the entire collection of M*A*S*H, so we watched a few episodes of that while the dishes were getting done, and we put together my new portable table for my laptop. And now, the boys are all outside putting up their new ZIP LINE! With all these awesome trees, they are looking forward to having a zip line between a couple of them. I'll post a picture of the great fun they'll have on it sometime soon. Hopefully they can get it done before dark.

After dark, we'll all settle in to play one (or more) of our new games, and maybe watch one of the new movies the kids got. The boys will probably spend some time playing with their Laser Tag stuff, too. So many trees to hide behind here in Springtown! Mostly, it's about spending time together, enjoying each other, and growing in our relationships ~ with each other and the Lord.

All-in-all it's been a good Christmas. Yesterday was a wonderful day. We all got up slowly and enjoyed a leisurely start to the day, sitting around after breakfast visiting and talking and just enjoying each other. Then Haley and I went to do some last minute shopping, and Robert and the boys did some of their own. We got home, fixed up some Sausage, Velveeta Cheese & Rotel tomato dip and settled in to watch "The Christmas Shoes". I haven't seen it in a few years, and I've wanted to watch it all season. We had a good cry, finished up the Advent calendars, spent about an hour singing Christmas carols and the boys got to bed a little before midnight. Robert and I got the stockings filled, I took a bath in my wonderful jacuzzi tub and worked out the last of the birth-kinks from Mondays' birth, and we got to bed around 1-ish.

I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for sending His Son. I tend to get so busy that I lose sight of what the season is all about, and I hate it when that happens. I want to get to a place in life where I am always mindful of the sacrifices of my Father and His Son, Jesus Christ ~ and not only the sacrifices, but the great love that is behind them.

I know the great love I have for my children ~ I know how much I want them to be happy and joyful ~ how I want them to feel safe, secure and loved ~ to joy in my presence and enjoy their time with me. How much more My heavenly Father wants those same things with, for and from me.

I pray that you will all revel in the great love of Jehovah God and His Son, sent to earth for us, so that we can look forward with great anticipation to eternity with Him! That is something to get excited about this holiday season!

Blessings...