Catching up

Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Our family certainly did! I am sorry for not posting for so long...let me try to catch you up. Randy had Christmas Eve (Mon) off from work, so we had a very relaxing three days leading up to Christmas. We took one last trip to the grocery store, made a batch of cookies, read lots of books and played some board games as a family, made zwiebach and borscht on Christmas Eve afternoon, went to Christmas Eve service at our church that night, and got to bed on time most nights! Christmas morning was spent at our house. This was the first year that I encouraged Audrey and Isaac to exchange gifts. Allow me to explain why I made this decision. A couple days before Violet's second birthday (7 weeks ago), Audrey came up to me and told me she wanted to get something for Violet for her birthday. Before I could even answer her, she explained that she knew just what she wanted to give her...she just needed a bag to put it in. So I gave her a gift bag and she wrapped up one of her own Barbies in some tissue paper and put it inside (one she said Violet loves to play with the most). I have always been amazed by Audrey's giving and sensitive spirit, and this time was no different. Although we don't give our kids allowances, I knew that I wanted to allow the kids to enjoy the fun of giving a gift to their sibling. I just had to figure out how to do that with little to no money. So I asked other moms for ideas, and read through a couple parenting magazines, and came up with a good idea. A couple nights before Christmas, when Randy and I were able to get out on a date (thanks Grandma Arlene!), we went to Target and scoured the store for little items (all of them under $5) that we thought would be good gifts for either Audrey or Isaac. Then, the next day, I set up a "store" in my bedroom for Audrey to come shop for Isaac, laying out all the items Randy and I had picked out, complete with price tags. Then Audrey got to come in the room and I "gave" her $5 to pick a gift for Isaac. Since the items ranged in price she could pick one or two gifts, depending on what she chose. After she studied each item, she chose one (a 100-piece Spiderman puzzle), and then we wrapped it up for Christmas morning. Then Audrey went out, I put all those items away and re-did the store for Isaac to come pick out something for Audrey. He chose an appaloosa horse figurine. We wrapped it and then I cleaned up the rest of the items, putting them aside to return to the store later. The kids loved it!!! On Christmas morning, after reading the Christmas stories out of the Bible (the accounts of Jesus being born, the angel appearing to the shepherds, and the wise men visiting) we took some time to talk about why we give gifts and prayed together, thanking God for our family and for his provision in our lives. THEN we went to the living room to exchange gifts. After that we headed to Randy's mom's house for the rest of the day. We enjoyed the day, relaxing with each other, ate some great food, opened gifts, and played the Wii late into the night. At about 9 p.m. we were joined by my brother, Ben, and his wife, Alli, with my parents in tow, straight from the airport! Well, that at least caught you up to Christmas Day. I'll post again soon with more pictures and a "recap" of our week leading up to 2008!