Merry Christmas!
Every year this day gets more magical as the kids understand more about Christmas. This year, we spent Christmas in our new house. It was fun to figure out where the tree would go. It was fun to decide how to do the lights outside. But what was super amazing was the comprehension these kids have about just how special Christmas is. They have it down. They’re not all about the presents. They really get it. They understand that the gifts are just a fun part, but that the real reason we celebrate Christmas is because of Jesus being born. And it’s so precious to see and hear them talk about it….that is, until it came time to fall asleep on Christmas Eve. Then all bets are off. Santa is coming. Nothing else exists and sleep becomes impossible.
It began at bedtime, a concept far too crazy for those sweet girls. They were too excited! But they did eventually give in to slumber, but only after getting out of bed a bazillion times to tell me they were never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever going to be able to fall asleep…ever. Because I told them that Santa doesn’t visit houses where people are awake. And then I threw in a little bit of, “It would be terrible if Santa landed on our roof and then saw that we were awake and flew away.” Never saw them again after that…until 1:30. Because at 1:30, a time normal for them to get up and run into our room and jump into our roomy king sized bed (making it less roomy with each extra body, and making the “king” in king size feel more like “twin”), they came in, one by one. Chloe and Willow scouted out the gift situation on the way in and realized that “he” had been there. Which of course they shared with me, followed by questions about it being time to open gifts yet. No, my dears. It is not….
At 4:30 Willow popped up in bed. I think it was potty time, but I was refusing to enter back into the land of awake to know for sure, when Willow realized that the stockings “were rounded, not flat anymore.” Which of course she had to tell Chloe, who of course had to tell me, who of course said, “Lay down and go to sleep.” And they did….
Until 5:00. At 5:00 they asked how much longer until they could open presents. “Two hours,” I replied.
At 6:00 they asked again how many more hours. “One,” I said. “How many?” I was asked again. “One hour.” But by that time Reed had been woken up one time too many and he was not happy. Nor did he care to remain asleep. So, that did it. All except for Laelia. That little lady slept through it all. Of course I don’t blame them. Later Chloe apologized for getting up so early, but as I told her, it is the one day a year when I think it is perfectly acceptable, nay, necessary for kids to wake up early. I think I would judge any child who did not wake up early in anticipation for such a magical morning. And it was magical. They make it so. But after all the gifts had been opened and played with, we did eventually get back to the real reason for celebrating. Our Savior. And we made Him a fabulous cookies and cream cake. And we ate it.
