Tis the Season

We've been really enjoying the Christmas season this year. With two little boys, and one in particular with an enthusiasm for all things Christmas, it's been an especially magical holiday season so far. And with the boys' birthdays smushed in with all the festivities, they are going to wonder what happened to the stream of gifts come January! Our mailman has become known to us as our own personal Santa, as he's had to come to our door with packages a handful of times already - and he even has a gray beard! Ho ho ho!

Putting up the tree after Thanksgiving was full of excitement. "Oh, my Chri'mas Tree! A beautiful Chri'mas Tree! You made me a Chri'mas Tree" was all we heard out of Eli. He also helped me hang a few lights out on our deck and in the front bushes... he was right underneath me with excited chatter the whole time. At one point he exclaimed, "Oh, I'm so HAPPY to see this!" Since we were preparing for his birthday at the same time, I think he presumes all the hoopla is JUST for him! Both boys got a kick out of playing in the tree box and hanging ornaments - they rearrange them on a daily basis. The tree is also the main delicacy for Eli's dinosaurs right now...



This past weekend we went to see Santa at Bass Pro Shops. It was both of the boys' first experience with the jolly elf. I'm not huge on promoting Santa and have tried not to focus on him very much (I think Santa represents some good things, but I don't want him to overshadow the celebration of the Savior's birth, or to promote the rampant disease of materialism that is getting harder to avoid these days), but it was fun to share a whimsical tradition with our kids. The store was decked out like a winter wonderland, and they had all sorts of activities for the kids. Owen tried really hard to climb into the enclosure with the remote control monster trucks - he was sure he needed to hold one! Eli saw the electric train and stopped dead in his tracks - so you can guess what we stood around watching for TWO HOURS! Oh well, the line for Santa was long anyway. We finally pulled him kicking and screaming from the trains to go get a quick picture. Neither boy would sit with Santa, but we did get Eli to tell him what he hopes to get for Christmas - A TRAIN. Specifically "Stepney" from Thomas & Friends - of course the one that is hard to find. Thank goodness Santa knows how to use ebay =).


Besides the excitement over the Christmas tree and lights, and all the ornament re-arranging that's been going on, probably the BEST thing about this year is having Eli really get into the Christmas Story. We talk about it every night during family scripture study, and do a little something different for our Family Home Evening lessons each Monday night. Eli loves learning about Jesus, and he also likes talking about babies coming out of mommies' tummies... so learning that Jesus was once a baby IN a mommy's tummy and he came out in a stable full of animals has been exciting for him. He can't get enough of hearing the Nativity story.

We put a little basket under our tree with a baby wrapped in it, and Eli likes to hold and kiss him and tell me "You're Mary and I'm Joseph" and "I love the baby Jesus." He also likes to pretend he is the baby Jesus and makes me wrap him in his towel and lay him in a "manger" every night after his bath. Owen really likes the fact that there is a donkey in the Christmas story, and he can even "eee awww" for it. The new favorite song around here also is Away in a Manger. While Eli seems to understand the general idea of Christmas, there are still a few gaps.... last week when we got a dusting of snow overnight, he looked out the window first thing in the morning and proclaimed "It snowed! God gave us Christmas!"

One of our recent FHE lessons was about the Wisemen and the gifts they brought the baby - we put a treasure box under our tree (and will not put any wrapped gifts there until Christmas morning) and filled it with pieces of paper on which he wrote/drew things that we could do that would be like giving gifts to Jesus (sharing, being kind, reading scriptures, helping others etc). It's been fun to review and add to it every week. We still plan to play Santa and have him leave some special things in the boys' stockings, but we try to emphasize that the reason Santa gives us gifts is to REMIND us that it is Jesus' birthday! To remind us that Jesus is the greatest GIFT we've been given. To remind us to give back to Him and to each other. So Merry Christmas everyone!