Christmas

This was such a wonderful Christmas for us. Unfortunately, I can't find the camera cable to upload the photos. So all I've got is this one photo from my phone that I took right after we got all the gifts set up on Christmas Eve.

This year we kept with our tradition of having a Ghetto Christmas Tree. We outdid ourselves with the Ghetto this time because we have a toddler in our home again after a long hiatus. She did what toddlers do best and stripped the tree clean of any decor within her reach.

Last year we started a new tradition and we did that again this year. We took the kids shopping on Black Friday to pick out their gifts. They enjoyed that. I got a bit of flack from people over not surprising my kids with their presents last year, but someone suggested getting them one surprise gift and I thought that was a good idea. So we did that. We've always kept our budget right around $35 (including stocking stuffers) per kid. Not because we couldn't afford to spend more on them in the past. This year for the first time ever, it was actually all we could really afford to do. I had planned on telling the kids that their Christmas budget this year was gonna be lowered to $20 and secretly spend $10 on a surprise gift. I was worried this would make them bummed out when I told them the lower budget, but they weren't. In fact, when we went to go shopping I told them they had $20 to spend, and before I could even give them some excuse as to why the budget was so low, they cheered and were so excited! I was proud of them.
So they bought their presents and I went out and spent another $10 surprise gift on them and $5 in surprise stocking stuffers. All these were taken home, wrapped and hidden away.
On Christmas morning the kids cleaned up the basement while Steve and I slept in. Then I got them all ready while Steve went running.
When Steve got back we prayed together. It was a special prayer that Celeste gave that expressed gratitude for our Savior and his life and birth. I was so touched I actually cried.
Then we all opened our gifts. Everyone loved all their gifts and to see my kids being so grateful and happy for what they got, got me crying again.
We have always been so blessed and I sure hope that God will see fit to keep taking care of us. Most of all I am so thankful to have such a sweet husband who works so hard for us and is so good and for our wonderful children who I am so in love with and so proud of. They are good people and the love that we share is so strong.
We also enjoyed reading the story of Christ's birth in Luke together. This year, we truly felt the Spirit of the Lord in our home as we celebrated his birth. It really was a great Christmas. I would say that it couldn't be topped, except for next year we will have two more special children with us who have never in their lives experienced a Christmas anything like this before. That is going to be priceless for sure.