Christmas 2008

Credits: Holiday Magic 2 by Carina Gardner, Template by Liz Designs, Font - CK Becky

I finally got my Christmas photos loaded on my computer. It was then that I discovered that Carson's gift from Santa photo was blurred. Either he or I moved but hey... I'll just reshoot that photo this week.

So I posted last week about the "fairness meter." My kids were all very happy with their gifts and even remembered to thank us. One thing that I did do when wrapping was to make sure that they each had the same number of gifts under the tree to open. If Savannah had a greater number of items due to the cost of her items being less expensive than Cheyenne's items, I just paired them up and wrapped them together to make an even amount of gifts. I know that this is plain ridiculous but it works.

Unfortunately later in the day, as text messages for Cheyenne came in from friends, that was when the "fairness meter" came into play. She wasn't quite as pleased with her gifts when she found that her friends got things that were "bigger" or "better." I didn't let this bother me though - well not too much. I remember the same kinds of feelings when I was growing up and would visit my friends to see what they got for Christmas. The thing of it is... that I now can hardly recall any of the gifts I received when I was a kid. I hardly remember what I even got last year. It really doesn't matter what we get but it is the memories. For me the joy is in watching my children's excitement, it is in being together and sharing our love, and of course it is in remembering our Savior.

This year was a little different as far as celebrating all of our Christmas traditions. I usually make a chain and have an activity for the kids to do each day of the month of Dec from the first to the 24th. This year I didn't get my chain made and at first was a little distraught by my lack of preparedness. I felt like I was letting the kids down. Turns out that much of the chain and activities must have been for me lol. Christmas came just the same and we did do many of the activities we have done in the past and it was a lot less stressful for me. We still had fun - even when we didn't get all 24 activities done. I will be giving this all some thought over the next year and decide what I want to do for next year's Christmas. I love having traditions, but I do think that simplifying things is wonderful too. I hope to find a balance.

On Christmas day, Clayne's parents and his Aunt Nancy, braved the weather and joined us for a nice Christmas dinner. I was more than happy to have them join us - especially when his mother volunteered to bring the ham and homemade rolls. I took the easy route for the rest of the meal and we had baked potatoes and a vegie. I also baked a Sara Lee pumpkin pie and thawed a Marie Callendar banana cream pie. Easy Peasy and it was just fun to enjoy a simple but nice Christmas dinner with family. Ok... I've rattled on for long enough for now lol. Hope you all enjoyed your Christmas too.