Second Christmas Celebration

Our second Christmas celebration was just with our family.  We celebrated 2 days before Christmas, which worked so well as it gave us all a chance to enjoy our gifts for a full day before our next celebration.  We were extremely blessed this year, a church in our area got our name (not sure how) as a family that might need help with Christmas presents and so they provided all of our gifts!  It was such an incredible blessing, we had more gifts than we have ever had before or are likely to have in the future!  We had already told the kids that it would be a very small Christmas this year, the business is still getting established and consequently we are struggling financially, but God provided an incredible amount for us!

We started the day out by opening our stockings, I stock up on little things throughout the year to put in them so that when Christmas comes I don't have to buy anything.  I also read a wonderful post on good stocking fillers and we used some of those ideas as well.  The kids were up early but they knew they had to wait to open their stockings till we got up.  I was so proud of them all, they all waited like champs!   

After breakfast everyone got dressed and did morning chores and then it was time for gifts!  We always take turns opening, starting with the youngest and working our way up to the oldest.  We make sure each person thanks whomever gave them the gift and take a few minutes to enjoy the gift before moving on to the next person.  Because of the vast number of gifts this year we tried to keep it moving a little faster than normal, but it all worked out well. 

 After gifts, we had a wonderful ham for lunch with lots of sides, very easy to make, I spent hardly any time in the kitchen.  Then the afternoon was free to spend time together doing crafts, playing with new toys, and just enjoying the day.  It was one of our best Christmas' ever!!!