I love giving to others. Not just the commercial gift giving, but the spirit of giving. I took Jonathan and Annah to the dollar store a few days ago and let them have free reign over picking out and purchasing Christmas gifts for everyone. The things they picked out weren't wonderful and extravagent, but they were heartfelt and picked out especially for those receiving them. For example, Jonathan picked out a bag of peppermint candies for the cleaning lady at his school. Would I have chosen that? Probably not, but to Jonathan, it made perfect sense. Turns out that she keeps her apron full of candies and frequently passes them out to some of the kids at school.
Annah picked out a fun gift for my brother, Randy. Randy has been more and more present in their lives in the last year, which I love, and Annah and Jonathan have both come to adore him. Annah picked out a toy Santa lantern for him for Christmas. I know that he'll have no use for it, but Annah wanted him to have it. She thought it was beautiful, and she wanted to share that excitement with him. I have to give him credit too...he acted as though it was the best gift in the world, and she was thrilled.
We spent Christmas Eve afternoon with my family, and the kids made out like bandits. Jonathan and Annah as so appreciative of everything the get (most of the time...Jonathan does have his moments of "But that's not what I wanted!). Matthew is, well, he's Matthew. Love him, but at times want to smack him around too. All of the kids were happy with their stash anyway, and didn't even need Santa's visit, but they enjoyed that too!
Santa did a great job at our house....he finished up the milk and cookies (almost anyway), piled the gifts by the tree, and took off without waking anyone. (He impresses me more every year!) The kids were very excited Christmas morning, although they got a bit impatient as we watched our short DVD on the Christmas story (taken from Luke, Chapter 2 out of the New Testiment) before we got into gifts. It's important to remember the real meaning of Christmas, so this is an annual tradition at our house. Afterwards we opened up gifts and stockings, and had a big breakfast. The rest of the day was spent putting things together, figuring out instructions, and testing out toys. The kids were very happy with their gifts....some of the biggies were a dollhouse for Annah, a Nintendo DS for Jonathan, and a portable CD/DVD player for Matthew. It really was a great day, and I'm very, very thankful for it.
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