The Festivities and Christmas

So leading up to Christmas things were hectic.  Trying to find things used and making presents is time consuming, but fun.  By the time we had everything prepared, we still had a week before Christmas.  So we started out with going to church.  Recently we have started attending a local Episcopalian church.  The Sunday before Christmas, they had an impromptu pageant.  The older kids were the main roles, but the younger children were asked to dress as either an angel, a shepherd, an animal, or a townsperson.  The priest told the story and we sang hymns in between and as characters came up, so did the people playing them.  Elijah was happy to just observe.  Grace wanted to be an angel and then an animal and then a townsperson.  
This is the only picture I have of them that doesn’t include other children.  And as I refuse to put other people’s kids on my site without permission I won’t post them…suffice to say, it was a fun day.
What made the day even more special was that Elijah and Grace got to go down to Myrtle Beach and stay with Oma and Opa at their “beach house”.  We were ALL excited about this trip!  So excited, in fact, we arrived before my parents to the condo.  Nevertheless the very nice condo people let us into the room.  So we tried to keep the wild-no-nap children calm(-ish) until my folks were at least quasi-settled in.  Then my mom was brave and took the kids down to the pool.  And then we (Jerry and I ) were OFF!!!!
Still they had fun without us, and while we had fun without them, our story is rather boring.  We stayed in and watched TV uninterrupted, went to see a movie without having to pay someone to watch the kids, and I made Christmas gifts while Jerry worked.  They on the other hand….
 
They obviously had fun.  Mom and dad gave the kids gifts for eating well (though I think it was unnecessary…but grandparents can do whatever!)  They also brought Jenga.  Elijah is pretty good at this game… Gracie, well, she likes to knock stuff over.  They went down to meet a family cousin one day and had fun with a Big Fish and a man, that was a statue, but looked like a man and Grace was mad that he wouldn’t talk to her. (Attention hog!)  And of course, the beach!!  You would think that their bedroom looked out on to something more exciting than a walkway… but it didn’t. 
We went back to pick the kids up on Wednesday.  It was not warm, but we played for a bit anyway!
On our way back home, Elijah start coughing… and didn’t stop until after Christmas.  So, many of the things we had planned didn’t happen.  We were supposed to have a Christmas party with our playgroup and go to the Christmas Eve children’s service at church… nope.  But that’s okay.  We did go to a local shopping center to ride “The Polar Express” train.  It’s a little train pulled by what looks (and smells) to be a lawn mower.

We were going to go see the “snow” that was there as well, but decided against it because Elijah almost fell asleep on the train.  We got home and he ended up sleeping almost two hours.  Poor guy.
So staying home on Christmas Eve wasn’t TOO bad.  We picked up a pizza and watched The Polar Express and then had to make cookies for Santa and prepare the celery and peanut butter for the reindeer.  Not to mention write the letters to be left.  Goodness!!!
 
Elijah and I wrote his letter together.  In case you are having trouble reading it: “Santa Elijah  skateboard (We left you some cookies and some celery and PB for the reindeer.) Thank you  lode Elijah.   Gracie drew a picture of the scooter she wanted.  The kids feel asleep amazingly fast, but woke up frequently. We finally moved them to our room and “went to sleep” and FINALLY at 1:00, the kids were asleep and Santa could come.

And he did make his appearance!!! 
So the next morning, Elijah was awake at 6, but we stayed “asleep” until 6:45.  Elijah’s mission was to wake up Jerry.  He did so in a rather, um, heart stopping way.  Jerry is REALLY glad that Christmas is comes only once a year.  So, here’s Christmas!!!

Elijah got his skateboard and Gracie got her scooter.  They got a doll house, an airport, and a farm (to which Grace promptly opened the Chicken coop and asked where the chickens were… sigh.)  My folks got them citi blocks  which are super cute!  Elijah got a mailbox for sorting.  Laura got them each a book, Elijah got a Batman book and Gracie for Louise: The Adventures of a Chicken.  Elijah got Gracie ponies and she got him super heroes.  It was a really good Christmas!
SO, after we ate and played a bit, we headed out to see Jerry’s folks.  Before hand though, my folks decided they would venture up our way as the weather was supposed to turn yucky by Sunday morning.  So we left a key for them an ventured out.  It was hard to believe that it was supposed to snow the next day.  The day was REALLY nice.  ANYWAY, we headed up to Bladenboro for the day.  We had a nice day.  Ron and Carry were the only siblings there, but Matt’s girlfriend was there with the new baby.  And here’s Grandma and PopPop’s;

Elijah got a car transporter truck, complete with cars.  Grace got a Dora doll.  They both received a train table.  They made out like bandits!!!  heh. After lunch and visiting and whatnot, we headed back.  We wanted to get back before any bad weather might hit.  We got home to my parents hanging out.  So we had dinner with them and then sent the kiddos to bed to dream of all their new things.
The following week brought super cold temperatures, so we stayed in mostly.  Mom came down with a cold, so when we did venture out to get Elijah some new shoes, we left her home to rest.  My folks treated Elijah to new shoes for his birthday and we are very thankful.  He totally skipped a size and a half in foot growth.  Sigh.  Once mom was feeling a bit better mom and I went to the Tea Room for lunch.  SOOO yummy!  I also was able to organize the playroom so that all the new toys fit into the scheme of all things.
Overall, we had a very nice and blessed Christmas.  We felt very lucky to be able to provide for our children.  Each of the kids drew a picture for each grandparent and we framed them with written explanations of each picture.  Jerry and I forwent buying gifts for each other this year.  It was a rough year, and the best gift I could ever have was my husband and my kids surrounding me with love and happiness.  It is better than anything material I may want.  I think it was a good reminder.  The kids LOVED all their gifts, and quite frankly they received more than ever before, but we spent less.  Before any of the holiday season started, we asked them to give up some bigger items to be donated.  We talked about people that had nothing and kids that might not get anything for Christmas.  We talked about the spirit of helping others and how it is the right thing to do.  They were eager to give things up.  I was very proud.  I AM very proud.  Both our kids are growing into amazing beings and I could NOT be more blessed.
I hope that your holiday was just as special and hope that this carries through the New Year.