Christmas Eve 2010

The kids were little bundles of energy...much like every other day. It was Christmas eve. The eve of Jesus' birthday. The eve when Santa would be making his journey around the world, hopefully stopping by our house along the way.

We'd been talking about Christmas for weeks -- reading the Christmas story from the Bible and various other books, acting out the story, watching Christmas movies, singing Christmas carols, making Christmas crafts, reminding Jacob and Annabelle that they needed to be good or Santa might decide not to bring any presents. **GASP** No presents? Surely not.

The day before, we talked about the importance of giving and sharing with others. For Jacob's birthday, Heath and I got a little caught up in the Toy Story 3 hype and bought him a Buzz Lightyear toy -- the one that talks and lights up, etc... We ended up not giving it to him. We knew there were other things he would like more, so we bought those other things instead. Buzz sat, untouched, unopened on the top shelf of our closet. Jacob knew the toy was there. He had seen it several times and asked, "Hey...why do you have that Buzz Lightyear up there?" I decided we would keep it until Christmas and have Jacob donate it to Toys for Tots, but we ended up taking it to another local organization. Jacob walked proudly through the door with Buzz and all the people who were working that day made a really big deal of it. They told Jacob how he was going to make some little boy very happy for Christmas. I don't know if he truly understood what he did, but he seemed to. He seemed genuinely excited about giving that "cool Buzz Lightyear toy" away. On the car ride over, I explained, again, that there are some children who don't have any toys and won't get any toys for Christmas. Jacob replied, "Oh. You mean, they forgot to tell Santa what they wanted?" Hmmm...how do you respond to that? After all, doesn't Santa bring gifts to everyone?

We spent Christmas eve day at Papa and Grandma's house. Annabelle discovered that it is great fun to jump off a bed onto a few old couch cushions. Her brother followed her lead and they jumped and played for the longest time.

Uncle Philip and Aunt Shelli were there too and of course, Grazie. Jacob and Annabelle love Grazie. Annabelle especially enjoys sharing her food (and sippy cups) with her.

Later that evening, after dinner, we moved onto the gifts. Jacob had been looking forward to this part all day. He had already been scoping out all the boxes and bags for the letters J-A-C-O-B. Both he and Annabelle ripped into their presents. Annabelle liked her gifts, but honestly, I think finding candy canes in one of her bags made her the happiest. Jacob was definitely impressed with what he received. At the end of the evening, I said, "Wow, Jacob you got a lot of new cool toys...and Santa hasn't even been to our house yet." Jacob looked up at me and said, " Oh! We should call Santa. We need to call Santa and tell him we don't need him anymore. We don't need him to come to our house." Boy, Santa sure could have saved himself a lot of money...had he known. ;)

After opening presents and playing with their new toys, the kids were exhausted..and so were their parents. We packed up the car and headed home. Jacob and Annabelle needed to get to bed, and Santa had work to do.

We put out a plate of cookies for Santa along with a glass of milk and a couple carrots for the reindeer. Then, we sat down on the floor beside the Christmas tree while Heath read the Christmas story from the book of Luke. The kids were a little tired and cranky, but we managed to get through it. They were just ready to be in their beds.

So, they went to bed...and "Santa" went to work. While I wrapped gifts that evening, I thought about God's miraculous plan and how it all played out that first Christmas eve. I can't even imagine what it must have been like for Mary, Joseph, even one of the shepherds. God is incredible. Amazing. Wonderful. Miraculous. I cannot fathom His greatness. Glory to God in the highest......

Thank you, God, for Jesus -- the most precious, extraordinary, most important, life-changing gift any of us will ever receive.