We hope you had a wonderful Christmas day. We definitely did. It was one of those days where it could have been a complete chaotic mess and that would have been okay. Because, what can you really expect from a family with four kids, age five and under!? But, by the end of the day when my husband and I were sitting alone in our living room by the soft glowing lights of the Christmas tree reflecting on the day, we knew our Christmas day was just as it should be. Perfect.
Our day started with 3 very excited little Els. They were anxious to get downstairs and see if Santa left them a present under the Christmas tree. I think this picture captures them in the middle of saying “happy birthday, Jesus!”
We gathered at the table for the birthday party!
We sang the “happy birthday” song three times. One time the candle went out on its own. Then my sister blew it out the second time. Finally, the third time (the charm) the grands blew out the birthday candle. Whew!
Maddux is a sharp dresser. So, he really loved his new winter sweater and wanted to put it on right away. He did. No big deal that it is on backwards!
Leeland, Trinity and Anthony got rocking chairs from Grandmother and Grandfather. The older boys got rocking chairs for Christmas a few years ago. These rocking chairs are so nice. They are solid cherry and have their names and birthdays on them. I hope they will keep them forever and someday their children will rock in them.
After all of the partying, opening of presents, eating, singing and laughing, the kids napped and then watched a movie and I folded clothes and made dinner. Yes, folded clothes. It was glorious! Seriously, with a family of six and all of the rehearsals, preparing for church services, Christmas parties and family events, I managed to keep our clothes clean, but not put away. It took me nearly two hours to complete this task! But, I did it and I felt amazing when it was done! For dinner, I asked the Els what they wanted and the answer was “pancakes.” So, I whipped up a fresh batch of homemade pancakes and they each ate at least three. I think Bakri had five. And then, with full tummies, we put them all to bed, with their pillow pets, of course!
There was still plenty of work to be done in the house, but instead we decided to sit together in the quiet, downstairs. The Christmas tree was lit and we just talked. We talked about Christmas. We talked about our children. We talked about how special the day turned out to be. We talked about the blessing of Christmas. How do we make it about Jesus when the world says it’s about presents? I don’t know the answer to that. But, I do know that we showed our children a lot of love on Christmas. We didn’t give them a lot of presents, but I know they felt the love and hopefully they will learn that is the most precious gift you can give and receive.
May your days be Merry and Bright.
Lots of love,
El Momma
Each year my parents give each of us ornaments. I am the one who writes everybody’s names on them. And this year the ornaments are big red trucks. You can see them sitting on the tables.
The food was amazing. My mom cooked everything and brought it over warm. All I had to do was put it in the oven and thanks to my wonderful husband, my 50 year old O’keefe and Merritt stove was up and running for the first time in almost a year. Moustapha took it apart to restore it. It is looking really great! And it works! That is the most important part.
Our fireplace included 8 stockings this year. One for each of us…and 1 for each of the kids “first Christmas” stockings.
We put the kids table in the entry way. The hope was that blocking one of the “tracks” in the house that the kids like to run on, we would decrease the amount of running. For some reasons when cousins get together, they begin running and they seem to never stop. And in our house they can run a big circle around the first floor. It is so loud and a little frustrating for the adults in the house. This table in the entry way did help a little, but it certainly did not stop the running game completely.
He’s 18 months old. So, he’s not quite ready to join the big boys. Next year, though, he’ll definitely be part of the running crew at the kid table!
More views of dinner. Here is grandmother enjoying her great cooking and Moustapha also enjoying.
Grandmother and Grandfather gave each of the younger boys wheel barrows and yard tools and they gave the older boys Krazy Kars. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of the Krazy Kars in action yet, but you can see below all the yard work that was taking place on Christmas day!
Trinity had some special time opening presents, ornaments and a few Christmas cards. My parents also stayed to watch her reactions. She got a beautiful new abc blanket with her name and birthday on it and some precious ornaments. She was very happy!
