Christmas came fast. I don't know if it was the late Thanksgiving, or the fact that Dave or I were gone for 9 collective days in the December, or what, but this December has just flown by. There were some things we just didn't get to this year, like making gingerbread houses. I guess some years are like that.
I love our quiet, small, family Christmases. Christmas Eve we cleaned house, made Santa's cookies, and watched The Muppets Christmas Carol with hot chocolate and popcorn. Then, of course, the kids opened their jammies and we read the Christmas story and tucked the kids into bed. They were all asleep by 8:15 and were told not to emerge from their room unless it was 6 or later.
True to their word, the kids didn't emerge until Jack came in after 7 and said, "Mom, the clock says, 7:11. That's after 6. Can we go open presents?" I loved that. It was really fun for him to go wake up Ana and hear them whispering in the hall about Christmas morning. What is it about Christmas the brings a whisper. I think that Christmas wants to be quiet and still. And something about those moments of anticipation call for whispers, even in my only-has-one-volume-and-it-is-loud middle child. We didn't really take any pictures that morning. We just watched and smiled and enjoyed.
I went into the kitchen to make breakfast after all the presents were opened and it was 9. I thought, "Oh, good we will have a nice, long, wonderful day." And then suddenly it was 3 pm and I was rushing to get potatoes and pie finished so we could go do dinner. We had dinner with our wonderful friends and came home late. As we were leaving their neighborhood, we saw 2 deer in a front yard in their neighbor's house. We sat quietly and watched them. I love quiet Christmases.
We had ourselves a Merry Little Christmas. I hope you did too.
5 comments:
Don't you go to church on Christmas?
We do not have a specific Christmas Day service. Most Mormons go to church every Sunday and the Sunday before Christmas is often a special program where we read the Christmas story from the Bible and have beautiful music. We missed ours last week due to the Ice Storm that hit us, but we are doing it tomorrow instead. I do love it when Christmas is on Sunday though. I like going to church on Christmas Day. What is your Christmas Day church service like?
Also, we always read the account of Christ's birth on Christmas Eve as a family and this year we read scriptures and prayed before coming down on Christmas morning. We definitely try to make sure our kids know Why we celebrate Christmas, and that is Christ.
I'm Catholic in case I haven't told yet. On Christmas Eve, there is a nativity in church in the afternoon and then at ten p.m., there is Christmas Mass, which is a longer service (not as long as your ordinary ones though) with readings from the bible, a talk, sacrament and songs. On Christmas Day and Boxing Day, there is a normal service in the mornings.
I really love Christmas Mass, but I didn't go this year as it was the first day of a cold and I felt unwell.
In our family, we don'tread the scriptures, but we sing traditional Christmas songs.
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