Gift Opening

I make an honest effort for my kids to know and understand that we're celebrating Christmas as a holy type of day... the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the son of God who came to sacrifice. With that said, I like the idea of gifts because the kings brought gifts to baby Jesus. I love to buy gifts and spoil my children but we make a point not to do that. This year was difficult as I was out shopping numerous times and found some really good deals. I went just a tad over budget but we didn't do anything extreme for our kids. No BIG and spendy gifts, not loads and loads of things to unwrap. A little bit of effort can teach young kids a lot. Unfortunately, I'm not sure they learned what its all about this year. Scott was totally selfish and wanted to open another gift and didn't appreciate it when he unwrapped "just another box". Bethany was so tired she didn't care much. If it was a gift in a bag, she'd throw a fit. In her little mind, all she knew was that she wanted to tear paper off a box. Though we did the advent calendar, the advent wreath and other things to help influence their little minds, we have lots of work to do. I wanted to make a birthday cake for Jesus with the kids to try to help them understand the purpose of all this celebration but in the craziness of all the activity, we didn't get it done.

Here are a few pictures of the kiddos opening gifts (they managed to help everyone who had a gift to open):

Ryan said he's eager for the day when he gets to open his own gifts again. Since I don't like an audience when I open gifts, I enjoy the kids' help so they take the focus.

Bethany and Scott opened their stockings Christmas morning before we headed to Ryan's grandparents. You would have thought that Bethany was a poor child who'd never had a toy or a gift before. She grabbed up as much as she could in her arms and was not going to let go!

Nothing beats a crying kid when you're trying to take a cute picture. Little Miss Attitude was ticked that we wanted her to sit down in front of the Christmas tree. Apparently there was something else she wanted to be doing!