Christmas

Disclaimer: For most of my married life, I spent a minimum of five hours a (working) day on a computer. That was my work, my school, my life. It was easy to blog. After finishing my degree, I determined to use the computer less. I have been more than moderately successful. Which means, some things get reported late, or never...

Christmas was spent at my parents house. As well as my parents, my little sister, her husband and two kids were there, plus my little brother and his girlfriend, and also my sister-in-law and her two kids (my brother is in Honduras right now). So there was much excitement in the land.

As we do on Christmas Eve, we danced to the Revels music. Kiddo was excited to lead the dance for while, as the song continued though, she dropped out for a while, then was finally carried by my brother's girlfriend. If you saw all the pictures, you would realize that by the end (all of five minutes) I think four of the five kids were being carried.
Then we had the children (all 4 and under) change into their matching Christmas pajamas. We've tried to take pictures of the five of these kids before. This continues to be one of our best shots. Then we put Kiddo to bed without enjoying the rest of the Christmas Eve fun, because when your 2, and exhausted, it's time to go to bed.


Christmas morning was exciting. Here is Kiddo with two of her favorite gifts: a pretty dress with flowers on it, and a sketch book and pen so she can draw. She has recently learned that she loves to draw, and we are very grateful that she almost always confines her abilities to paper that we've provided her.
Another well loved gift is her bear that recites "The night before Christmas." It's not clear that any one else likes this present. But she really does. And I almost know the whole poem now.
It was really nice to be around so much family for Christmas time. It was nice to know that when it was over, we had a home to go to. It was nice to get away. It was nice.

(You may note there are no nativity reinactment photos, or for that matter Santa photos. Both of these activities were no-go's for my child. She refused to participate in them both. At least she didn't cry because of the nativity (reinacted with my nephew playing all the key roles). She can, and does, sing "the baby Jesus song" forever (Away in the Manger) so for all she doesn't understand about Christmas yet, she understands that she likes to sing about baby Jesus. We're making progress.)