A Most Wonderful Christmas

Words cannot begin to describe our Christmas this year.  While it wasn't the year I got my Barbie Dream House, my first telephone for my bedroom, or my brand new Mustang, I think this year rates at the top of my most favorite Christmas list!  It wasn't because of the gifts under the tree, the wonderful meal, or the glistening tree and beautiful decor...no, it had nothing to do with any of that.  It was simply because of seeing it through the eyes of my kids and sharing in that with my wonderful husband.  This was the first year that Dylan really "got it."  And when I say Dylan "got it" I don't mean the materialized version of it all.  Yes, while he was all excited and anxiously awaiting Santa's arrival and asking for a roller coaster this year, he learned the true meaning of Christmas and of Jesus's birth.  Dylan was able to tell us who he wanted to give gifts to this year to show his love for them just as the gift God gave us at Christmas in the Baby Jesus.  It's really amazing to see how much a 3 year old can absorb and I've learned not to take for granted that "he doesn't get it" because he often surprises us.  Zoe, as she is accustomed to doing, follows right behind in her big brother's footsteps.  So Dylan leads the way and makes the path and Zoe follows along happily adding her additional excitement and love of life.  Watching the two of them on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning made this the best Christmas ever!

This year we spent Christmas at home.  On Christmas Eve, we spent much of the morning baking Christmas cookies.  Dylan, David and I mixed up sugar cookie batter.  Dylan cut out most of the shapes (which is why we ended up with a multitude of candy cane shaped cookies).  After Dylan tired of decorating the cookies with icing, David and I took over and had some fun decorating cookies.  Zoe was in and out of our action at her whim.  Sometimes she was very involved and other times she was off playing with toys.  Late afternoon we had my family over and we had a light dinner of appetizers and such and just enjoyed spending time around the tree together.  Among the desserts, we had a cake and Dylan sang Happy Birthday to Jesus for all of us before we cut it.  He was so excited about Jesus' birthday cake and sharing in a piece of it.  It was so amazing to see the light of Christmas shine through his little eyes.  It made my heart full of all that is merry and bright.  As the night grew on, the kids were all wide eyed and excited with tales of Santa and I was wondering if anyone was going to get any sleep.  We all spread the reindeer food out on the lawn, hung up the stockings, and left the milk and cookies out for Santa.  Then it was time for everyone to part and get to bed.

Christmas morning was pure magic.  Dylan and Zoe came down the stairs with squeals of anticipation and they danced with joy when they saw that Santa had left toys just for them under the Christmas tree.  These kids are so blessed and loved as they spent hours opening presents from Santa and all of their family.  They were so appreciative and excited of each and every one.  Dylan was particularly cautious to understand who each present was from and would ask permission before opening it.  He would open it, show his excitement and say "thank you" even though the giver of the present wasn't always there in person.  I was so proud of my son's manners.  I hope he will always be so polite and gracious.  Zoe doesn't quite have the words yet, but her wide bright blues eyes told us everything.  She opened each present very daintily and carefully.  It took a while but she delighted in every tear of the wrapping paper and squealed so loud each time the gift was revealed.  Their joy will warm my heart forever.  I never want to forget those moments from Christmas morning. 

After naps and down time, we all went over to Bop and Nana's to have Christmas dinner and exchange presents.  The excitement was strong and squeals of joy continued to come one after another. The cousins all did a wonderful job of sharing their toys!  Dylan's biggest hit that wasn't his own toy was Alec's Wall-E robot.  Alec has such a geneorous heart and let Dylan play with it for what seemed like forever.  Dylan went to bed Christmas night talking about Wall-E and Alec.  It was really sweet.

This was truly a Christmas filled with much peace, an abundance of joy and love beyond our wildest dreams!