Christmas Morning

I loved watching my girls come downstairs Christmas morning.  I love how they don't go screaming down the stairs and start tearing into everything.  All three took a look at their stockings but were also very interested in pointing out goodies that Santa left for their sisters.  It was calm and peaceful.

All three were very content and grateful for what they received.  Although there were many presents wrapped and under the real tree, the girls were happy to just hang in the living room and play with and admire their new things left by Santa.  I think it is more the idea that Santa left them something and not about what was left.

In my book, this is another baby step away from intense focus on gifts and more towards celebrating with one another.  If I had it my way, the gift giving would begin and end with the stockings.  The materialism that this holiday exudes is such a slippery slope.  Why must Christmas involve piles of gifts??  Over the past two years we have consciously chipped away at the piles of gifts we give our girls.  We currently give each girl three gifts and then the sisters give to each other.  Maybe next year we can take it down to one gift from the parents. . .  I really don't think the girls would even notice.

Another route we could take in order to steer clear of the materialistic slip-n-slide is a philosophy that Savannah adopted this year.  Savannah prided herself in a handmade Christmas.  I must disclose that this is in large due to the fact that she goes to a Quaker school.  Quakers are all about simple pleasures.  Thus, a handmade Christmas placemat (that you can use every Christmas Mommy) and special woven coaster were the treasures that Alex and I found when opening our gifts from Savannah.  We loved it.  Savannah's love spoke right to my heart this Christmas day.  She is an amazingly selfless girl and repeatedly told me that opening gifts wasn't her favorite part of Christmas.  Savannah also mentioned that she didn't care how many gifts she received because spending money on our three adopted children in Africa was more important than buying toys.

Ahemm. . . need I say more about piles of gifts? 

While I promote a less materialist Christmas, I must admit that I enjoyed seeing my children delight in the day. Here they are coming downstairs Christmas morning. As stated above, I thought this was a rather calm and peaceful morning considering there were three very excited children in the house.



In the end, Goldfish crackers in the stockings are biggest hit anyway.  Who needs toys after all.

 

For the materialistic record, this was the year of. . .

Trains for Adeline - is there any other kind of toy for this girl?

Ducks, ducks, ducks, and the Duck Princess

LEGOS for Miss Savannah. Don't think for a minute that the 12+ on the box held her up in the building process either.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is the pinnacle of the holiday season for my family.  It isn't the day we open gifts but it is the day we carry out our annual traditions.  I feel that we have succeeded in making the holiday about the time we spend together as a family and the birth of Christ.  Our season comes to a head on Christmas Eve when our family pulls out our nicer clothes, snaps some pictures, attends church, feeds the reindeer and bakes cookies for Santa - yes, we do it on our fancy dresses!.   I was absolutely amazed that my girls turned down the option of opening one gift. They were much more excited to engage in all of the other activities.  I silently rejoiced!!

Our Greatest Christmas Gift

There are so many emotions tied up in Christmas.  There is the typical excitement and stress but, for our family, it goes much deeper.  We are called to reflect on Adeline.  She came home from the NICU on Christmas Day 2006 and she will always be my greatest Christmas gift.  I rarely get through Christmas without "feeling it" all over again.  Christmas Eve service drums up an overwhelming amount of emotions - especially when we sing "Silent Night" in candlelight.  It reminds me of the long, dark and quiet ride home from the NICU four years ago.   I didn't  know how to care for this baby, feel loved by this baby or how to take a leap of faith and hope for a miraculous outcome in her development.

This year. . . I held my sweet girl in candlelight while singing "Silent Night" and thanked God for allowing Adeline to be a part of his master plan.  I remembered when I held my little five pound baby at home for the first time and wondered how "this" was going to work for my family.  While the first couple years of being Adeline's mother were very hard, both emotionally and physically, I can say that being her mother today is a gift from above.  Little did I know how much our family would gain by rallying around this one pound miracle.  She slows us down while she builds us up.  She is our glue, our gift, our belief in the unbelievable.  She keeps us loving deeply and celebrating joyfully.

Have I mentioned how much I love her?

Here is a video I made a on the first anniversary of her homecoming.

Miss Belle's Holiday Performance

Since Adeline missed school the better part of December, her holiday concert performance was less enthusiastic than in years past. First, I couldn't see her because she was positioned directly in front of some very large heads. Second, although I didn't know it, she was still sick. Third, she didn't know all the songs and was unsure of the ones she did sing. That isn't entirely true.  She knew "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," and stole the hand motions from Lila's class and almost stole the show. Her fancy dress and cute smile helped too.

I really only have one picture that is worth posting from this event. And because I feel so bad that my sweet baby girl was so sick this month, I am going to take this opportunity to post some holiday pictures or her that  I LOVE.  Yes, I adore them. We saw very little of the enthusiastic and smiling Adeline this month so these pictures remind me that she is tucked away in a tired of being sick and tired Adeline.

Come back Miss Personality. I miss you!

Holiday Happenings and Overdue Posts

Since much of this month was plagued with illness, we worked hard to cram holiday excursions into our well days.  One outing that we do every year is riding the Santa Express.  Adeline is mildly obsessed with trains which made it a spectacular ride.  We were thrilled to have Heather and Baby Kate make the trek up so that they could board the train too.  Grammy and Papa were also in attendance.  The girls loved the train ride and Santa was nice enough to pay them individual time while gifting them a pretty fancy magnifying glass.

Since Adeline was fever free for the night, we decided that we would retry our weekend in Hershey.  Visiting an amusement park in 20 degree weather may seem strange to some, but in Pennsylvania it is a tradition.  The girls thoroughly enjoyed the rides.  They hung tough with the temps and we managed to stay five plus hours in order to see the park light up with 1000's of Christmas lights.  It was beautiful.

Check out their faces on the Frog Hopper.  (Lila went from thrilled to distraught when she saw an older woman, that was on the ride hold her throat and laugh.  Lila thought the woman was puking.  Goes to show how much puke has found its way into our house!)

While at the park, the girls were able to visit Santa.  I expected Savannah to start asking questions this year and she did.  We have moved on to the Santa's Helpers stage (i.e. telling her that some of the "Santa's" we see  at the mall, etc. aren't actually Santa at all, but one of his helpers filling in for him)  - she fully took the lead on this conversation.  We mutually decided that the real Santa is in Hershey which caused her to beam from ear to ear after spending time on his lap.

After the amusement park (both girls were passed out in their car seats before we got out of the parking lot), we spent the night and headed out to Chocolate World the next morning.  The girls enjoyed working on the factory line while packaging Hershey Kisses - dancing with your container was included again this year.  Savannah and Grammy had the chance to try out the newest exhibit.  They both got to make their own chocolate bar with individual fillings and toppings.

Before leaving we came across a magnificent gingerbread house.  Well, it really wasn't gingerbread but 100% Hershey candy.  Both young and old were awed.

Back home (and in between even more sickness) we found time to roll out a few more cookies and finalize our gift purchases.  Alex and I found ourselves shopping past midnight and wrapping gifts on Christmas morning.  Not how I planned to do it but it all worked out in the end.