It wasn't the endless sweets--some generously donated by friends, some eagerly made by us, like our favorite holiday treat, krumkake--this year dipped in chocolate for a little added fun. {Did I say that was a good memory? Yikes, I have eaten myself silly and now am really going to pay for it at the gym come Monday morning!}
It wasn't the holiday concerts {which were many}.
.It wasn't the Nativity story we acted out from the scriptures.
{and they were sore afraid!}
It wasn't the Christmas Eve Jammies that are essential {but almost didn't happen--see below} for it really to be Christmas around here.
It wasn't the waking up at 4:30 a.m. {seriously, they get worse the older they get--we made them leave us alone until 5:40, by which time they thought they were going to DIE if we didn't go down stairs!} to go check out what was under the tree.
It wasn't our Christmas Day tradition of heading to the Waukee cemetery {well, behind it, at least} for a little sledding. Thank Heaven we got a bit of snow yesterday!
It wasn't Skyping with all our Grandmas and Grandpas--which makes us feel like we're with family even when we're not!
No, all these things were good. But the best part of the holiday this year was the giving my kids got to experience on a whole new level thanks to some pretty crummy behavior.
Here's how it happened. I get that things are crazy and kids get excited at Christmas time. But that is no excuse for the fighting and bickering we felt earlier this month. So last week, instead of getting to go caroling to some families in our ward with some treats, our kids got a pretty fed-up mom and dad with a pretty good lectu...I mean lesson on GIVING as the true spirit of Christmas. And the kicker was the threa...I mean challenge for each of them to provide one thought-felt gift to each member of the family--that couldn't be store bought but needed to be a homemade item or service--for Christmas Eve, or there wouldn't be a Christmas at our house. And the demonstration of that was my taking what few gifts were under the tree, putting them in a large garbage bag, and taking them out to the trash! I meant business and they knew it.
But here is the BEAUTIFUL thing that happened. They spent this past week focused entirely on what they were going to give to each member of the family on Christmas Eve. I know the motivation started out as a means to earning back Christmas. But it really turned in to a week of each of them thinking about what others would like and what they could do to fill those wants. There wasn't much talk of "me, me, me" during the week, but rather a real feeling of giving and love.
So last night, with thirty {well, thirty one actually. We had one additional wrapped gift holding a picture of the Savior and some scripture to read about his life as the greatest of gifts} thoughtful small gifts under our tree, we began our Christmas Eve celebration. After acting out the Nativity, we each handed out our personal gifts to each other. And I was so impressed with the things the kids came up with.
{Just a sample}
From Jack and Josh to Mom and Dad: A hand-made pop up book entitled The Year without Christmas
From Josh to Emmie: A hand-carved and painted dolphin
From Olivia to Dad: A framed poem
From Emmie to Mom: A organization box for office supplies
Merry Christmas All! How grateful I am for the supernal gift of our Savior who made it possible for us to make it home!
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