Christmas Eve and Christmas- 2010

I have to say that this Christmas went well.  I was pretty anxious about it.  I'm coming to learn that you just never know what your emotions will be when you know that someone you love will no longer be a part of the celebrations.  I've also found that the days leading up to it are usually the hardest, but once the day is here it's not so bad.  But usually, for me, the days following are pretty tough.  I don't know if that is what it is like for anyone else, that's just been my own experience.

Christmas Eve was probably my favorite out of the two days.  The kids played so well together.  I had a lot of cooking to do, so they would help when asked and would leave me alone when I needed.  Kent was home so he and the kids played off and on all day.  The kids helped me make a gingerbread man.  They then decorated it.  They also helped bake cookies for Santa and decorated those as well.  After we had lunch, we all sat around the tree and opened gifts from each other.  Jon Kent and Zoey had both gone to the "Santa Shop" at their school and purchased a gift for us and Nathan.  So I got some gifts to them from us and Nathan as well.  We had a good time letting each of the kids open the gifts.  The rest of the day was spent with me cooking and getting ready for our Christmas lunch for the next day.


 Christmas Eve night we went to church for our Christmas Eve service.  I just love going.  Such a sense of family and love.  Which is good when we are so far from family.  After we got back from church the kids changed into their PJs and we checked to see where Santa was.  They all got excited to see that he was getting closer.  Then Kent read about the birth of Jesus and the book "The Night Before Christmas".  They set out cookies and milk for Santa, treats for the reindeer and letters to Santa.  Then off to bed they went.  Surprisingly in record time they were all asleep.

Christmas morning came and Jon Kent was the first one up.  Running into my room letting me know that "Santa had came, Santa had came".  He was so excited.  I told him to go and wake up his sister and she soon was bolting out of her room with excitement.  It took us awhile to get Nathan up and going, but once he got out of his morning fog he was ready to go as well.  This year was a bit different.  Usually Santa leaves all the presents in neat little stacks on various spots in the leaving room.  This year he put them all under the tree.  We let Nathan open all his first and surprisingly Jon Kent and Zoey waited patiently and were happy to watch Nathan unwrap all his gifts.  They seemed just as excited to see what he got as he was.  I loved watching each of them opening their gifts, watching their eyes light up and doing fist pumps in the air when they received something they really wanted.  After all the gifts were opened they all went to check if Santa had filled their stockings.  He had.  Santa sure is a great guy, huh.  He even left Nova a little toy.  Once all the gifts were opened and the paper was cleaned up, it was time for me to start cooking lunch.  By the time it was all done we had so much food.  We ate 4 meals off of it. So it was worth it.  By the time night rolled around there were toys everywhere and happy kids playing with their toys.  We even got some snow starting around midnight.  It was mostly mixed with rain until the following morning when it all turned into snow.


It was a good Christmas for us.  My heart ached through much of it, but I had prepared myself for that.  So it wasn't so unbearable.  I am thankful to have that 1st Christmas out of the way now.  That I know I can get through it.  That while it hurts and I wish things were different, I know that God provided for me what I needed to get through.  Even when I don't and still don't know exactly what I need.

So that was our Christmas 2010.  Let the New Year be a happy and healthy one!