DAY #25 - CHRISTMAS!!!

CHRISTMAS HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!!!!

"SANTA WAS HERE!" Ivy excitedly proclaimed as she came barging into Daddy and Mommy's bedroom at about 6:30 this morning. We proceeded to ask her if she had been downstairs yet (as the kids are not allowed to go downstairs until we give them the ok), to which Ivy said, "Well, no!" Then, we told Ivy to go downstairs and see. SO, OF COURSE, Ivy did and then ran right back up the stairs and into our room to exclaim as she jumped up and down, "SANTA REALLY WAS HERE!"

Owen enjoyed looking at all of the colorfully wrapped packages, while Letty couldn't get the packages in her mouth fast enough.

Before we could unwrap the presents, we had to eat breakfast (Mommy's unappreciated idea) so that we could make it through unwrapping and to get Letty situated and content for the morning. Then, we had to pull out the last slip of paper containing our last activities from our Advent calendar box.

Our activities included:

1. Reading the story of Jesus' birth (found at Luke 2:1-20) which is why we even have Christmas!

2. Opening presents!

Ivy's favorite presents included:

#1 God's Girlz (Barbies)

#2 Maze Books for when she "plays school"

#3 Handcuffs (she is a trooper too, you know)

Some of the other gifts Ivy received:

Owen's favorites included:

#1 ANYTHING Curious George - DVDs and books

#2 Dinosaurs

#3 G.I. Joe & Army Guys

(I think Letty liked Owen's Thomas the Train pillowcase the best!)

Some of the other gifts Owen received:

Letty just enjoyed eating and playing with and eating and eating and eating the paper (or anything else she could put into her mouth)!

Can I have some more paper please?

Daddy's gifts:

(Mommy did end up getting him a few things but only before our agreement...

a Bible for his work car and some Christian comedian DVDs)

Mommy's gifts included nice, warm, thick socks and great-smelling candles. (Sorry, no pictures...Mommy seems to always be behind the camera...I know, it's a hard spot to be in. :0) )

STOCKINGS!

PLAY TIME!

3. Eat our traditional Christmas meal of homemade pizza and hot wings!

4. Go to Farmer Webby's farm and visit with him and his cows! (not actually on our slip of paper from the box, but we did it anyways!)

Owen had to bring his cow along, and

Ivy had to show it to the "real" cows.

By the way, do you see that "big bin" in front of Ivy there?

Well, our Savior - Jesus - was laid in something similar to that after he was born...

of course, Jesus' manger had hay in it, BUT have you ever laid in hay before?

Jesus loves us that much!

And then, Farmer Webby allowed the kids to give the cows a little Christmas dinner of their own of grain and hay...

4. Go for a walk around the neighborhood! (again, not a "planned" activity, but it was such a nice day out that we just had to!)

5. Call Papa and Grandma O. and Grampa and Gramma Z. to sing a Christmas carol ("We Wish You A Merry Christmas") and recite our memory verse to them! (oops! forgot to take a picture)

6. Finish Jesus' reindeer cupcakes and have Jesus' birthday party!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESUS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!