The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Christmas can often be full of stress and anxiety.  It was no different for me this year.  Especially with everything extra we had to deal with this month.  The death of our rabbit got the ball rolling on probably the most difficult month of the year.  We fought the flu and colds but that's to be expected.  What we didn't expect was our van needing to be fixed, the XBox quit working properly, and our refrigerator completely died.  But God provided the finances just before we needed it.  He knew exactly what we would face this month.  And somehow, even with all of that extra stress going on, I still had a great Christmas.

Since we went to Iowa for actual Christmas day, we had our own Christmas celebration a week early.  I made plans for a fun Christmas Eve, but they didn't work out.  I got the flu.  Friday afternoon I realized I wasn't feeling well and sure enough, my body made it obvious that I wasn't feeling well.  I was curled up on the couch when Seth came home from doing his own Christmas shopping.  Christmas Eve was cancelled.  I felt so bad.  The special Christmas Eve meal had to wait.  We wouldn't get to have carriage rides and we wouldn't get to drive around looking at Christmas lights.  After eating the pizza we ordered, Seth took the kids out to look at lights anyway.  But they weren't gone long.  Apparently, I'm the life of the party and looking at lights was no fun without me.  I felt loved and sad at the same time.

I was starting to finally feel a little better so I told the kids we needed to wrap the presents they got for each other and for their Sunday School teachers.  So, each kid individually sat with me in the living room to wrap their gifts for the others.  We didn't finish until after midnight.  I was about dead but I still had to wrap all of the other presents.  I sent the kids to bed, put in one of my favorite movies ever - While You Were Sleeping - and started to wrap the presents.  I had to stop and take short breaks, but eventually, I got it all finished.  At 3:30 in the morning, I went to bed.

On our Christmas morning, I got up, still not feeling well and unable to sleep.  I started our traditional cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  Then we waited for Seth to wake up.  I don't remember much, I'm sure I was in a daze.  Once Seth woke up, we started into our Christmas day.  We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, ate the cinnamon rolls, and looked in our stockings.  Then, we opened our gifts.

And of course after gifts have been opened, we play with them.

And it was time for me to start dinner.  It was going to be later than I had planned, but I had the flu.  I made everything I had planned on making, except for the dinner rolls which spoiled in our dying freezer.  Seth offered to help, but there was nothing he could do.  He did eventually mash the potatoes and make the gravy.  So with many breaks, I pushed through and prepared our normal Christmas feast.  Then I went to bed and let the rest of the family enjoy it.



Because this is how I felt.  Miserable.

I felt much better after an hour and a half nap.  I had some energy and I even tried a little taste of the food I had prepared.  The kids had their Christmas program practice so Seth took them to that while I continued to rest at home.  I was really hoping to make it to church the next day to see my kids in the program.

I woke up feeling ok, but willing to do what I could to make it to church.  I wasn't dizzy or feeling tired, I just wasn't sure what my stomach was doing.  But we made it and I'm glad I did.  The program was amazing.  It was written by a young woman in our church and directed by another.  All of our Sunday School kids were involved and it went very well.  I truly enjoyed it.

Little A and her class sang Away in the Manger and O Come All Ye Faithful.  Then they sat and listened to Mary tell them a story about Noah.

J and his fellow shepherds listened to the story of Adam and Eve and how sin entered the world making it necessary for the Messiah to come and redeem us.  K came with a multitude of angels telling the shepherds that the Savior had been born.

The shepherds went to Bethlehem to see the baby Jesus.

The program was followed by an amazing message by Dan Lindsted.  God sent Jesus as a gift to us.  Not a gift that we have to work for, not a gift that we can only get when we're good (like you do with Santa), but a gift that only has to be received.

I did eventually start to feel like myself.  We left for Iowa Friday night and arrived just before midnight.  We decided to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve.  When we woke up the next morning, stockings were stuffed, presents were under the tree, and cinnamon rolls were coming out of the oven.  Ahhh, Christmas at my parents' house.  Once everyone arrived, we started our festivities.  My dad read the Christmas story from the Bible using the 5 advent candles.

Then we got into our stockings.

And then opened our gifts.

Then of course it was time to eat Christmas dinner.  A few of the kids took naps in the afternoon.  Others went to the park with Uncle Seth.  Some of us adults played the new games that were opened that morning.  It was just a nice fun afternoon.

Christmas morning, we went to church and they had their own Christmas program.  I missed not singing a special Christmas song this year, but I really enjoyed the Christmas cantata they sang.  I loved the songs and loved how they incorporated the kids.  It was really good.

We stayed until Monday and left after lunch.  I am very blessed to have such a wonderful and godly family.  Although I loved all of my gifts I received this year, I cannot be more grateful for my family.