Saturday, December 19, 2009

Our Christmas Season the Year You Were 5 & 1



My Dearest Ones,
Starting December 1 our Christmas Season begins. We woke up that morning and all ran downstairs in our pajamas to listen to Amy Grant's 'Tennessee Christmas' in the dull light of early morning. This is our tradition and it jump-starts many others. That song is about the beauty of being right where you want to be for Christmas. With you three is right where I want to be. You fill the season with magic. I can't imagine a better Christmas Season than the year you three were five and one; I know I say it every year, but it is absolutely true every year; I really cannot imagine it getting any better. Kyle and Owen-- you believe; you two are true believers in every sense. And this year was so special as you lead the way in teaching your baby sister all that there is to know about this season. Since she has always had some kind of problem with men with facial hair (?!), we were anticipating the worst for her first encounter with Santa. We were all surprised when she wasn't afraid and instead walked right up to the jolly man in red and proceeded to smile and give him kisses. Of course, in retrospect it shouldn't have been surprising-- she was toddling along, following, just two steps behind her big brothers, who were high-fiving and launching in to a full-blown Q & A session with Mr. Claus. "How do you get down the chimney? How do you make your reindeer fly? How do you know if kids have been good?" They were extremely relieved to be assured that they didn't need to have been 'perfect' this year ("nobody's perfect!"), but rather that they just need to have been 'good most of the time.' Owen, in particular, reminded us of that on numerous occasions ("It is ok if we're not perfect! Nobody's perfect!"). Yes, we assured you both, it is true-- nobody's perfect, and you were good most of the time. The truth is that you are good the vast majority of the time (although I'm the first to admit you drove my crazy the other minority of the time). One thing that didn't drive me crazy this year -- for the first time in five years -- was putting up the Christmas Tree! We were smart and proactive this year (why weren't we all those other years?). We put Meera to bed early and Kyle and Owen got to 'stay up late' to decorate the tree. But this year we started a new tradition of having the tree up and ready the night before (Papi did it while you were sleeping), so that everything was set to just decorate -- and thus, allow us to just enjoy the fun part (minus the wrestling the tree up and the bickering-over-positioning-of-limbs-and-lights parts). We drank eggnog (you love it this year!!!) and truly relished in every ornament of that tree-decorating-night. You have your favorites, of course, but each of those ornaments holds meaning for us. And our tree is thus, of course, the most beautiful in the whole wide world. Meera has enjoyed pulling certain ornaments off of it repeatedly (ornaments that we placed way down low specifically for her). And we've all enjoyed pulling candy canes off from time to time. Jesus is, again, a huge theme this year -- particularly for Kyle (our resident Theologian). Kyle doesn't let us forget -- not for a minute -- that this whole Christmas 'thing' is actually to celebrate when Jesus was born. While Owen has a million questions about Santa, Kyle has a million about The Christmas Story. And stories we have. You love reading Christmas books at bedtime during the month of December. And oh, how nice it has been for Papi and I to have a break from The Berenstein Bears!!! You savor those Christmas books and just pour over them as you minds dance and your imaginations fly. Our house is warm. Our spirits are bright. There is a lot that is special. It is all as it should be for precious young children during this season. And that, my Dearest Ones, is the true gift that we strive to give you each year. What we get in return is the greatest gift of all.
Love, Your Mama


 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 

5 comments:

ts said...

Beautiful photos as always! I love seeing all the Christmas decor, particularity the ornaments. Your boys were one of my inspiration kids for a pattern I just finished-let me know what they think.

Happy holidays!

Laurie said...

Heather..I have the same Haitian Nativity set. I love setting it up every year as it reminds me of the time I spent in Haiti. Love your blog!

Laurie Sharp-Gaudette

T and T Livesay said...

We have that nativity set from Haiti ... but our rock-people have been broken by curious little ones :)

Merry Christmas!!!!

T and T Livesay said...

We have that nativity set from Haiti ... but our rock-people have been broken by curious little ones :)

Merry Christmas!!!!

Kathy Cassel said...

It's all very beautiful.