Christmas

 

Christmas this year was magical, and I'm not talking about the gifts either. I'm talking about how loving and caring our children are. 

We kept up with our normal Christmas Eve schedule of my parent's house in the evening for time spent, gift giving, and then church service at Josh's church. We were a bit worried about Luke and the explosion of excitement that happens, so we headed to my parent's before everyone else, so there was a bit less commotion for him. He and the other two handled the excitement with ease. We enjoyed time with my parents, my mom's yummy posole, and fun gifts for the kids. We had to cut the visit a tad short when the cousins began to arrive. It started to get to be too much for Luke. We were quite impressed with both Izzy and Bear, they didn't think twice about leaving. There were no protests, no cries, no nothing. They simply got themselves together to head home and on to the next activity. We then headed home to get ourselves ready for service at Covenant. Jaron was especially excited to go. He kept saying, "I'm going to watch Baabaa work. I love singing. I'm going to sing like Baabaa." It was the sweetest thing. 

When we arrived at church, things didn't go quite as planned. There was no one in nursery for Luke and when Josh tried to take him into the sanctuary, Luke had a bit of a panic attack about going in. I said I would wait in nursery with Luke but Josh didn't want us all separated for service so we decided to leave. I wasn't happy about leaving and neither were Izzy and Bear. We literally walked in, said hi to few people, and walked out to head home. I found myself feeling guilty for not allowing the other two to stay. They never complained about not staying but I could see that they were confused as to why we were leaving.

Josh was a gem on the way. Instead of heading straight home, he headed to Martinez town, where my eldest brother is buried, to drive through and look at all the luminarias. We drove all through the cemetery as well as the neighborhood. It was absolutely stunning. The kids loved the sights too. Although we couldn't worship in church together as a family, visiting my brother's grave site briefly, and saying a prayer was just as beautiful and meaningful. 

Christmas morning came fast for me and Josh. Santa left things that needed to be put together so we were up till 3:45a getting all of those things in order. The kids, for the first year ever, awakened themselves. Isabella was first to come to our room, at about 7a and let us know Santa had come. She is such an innocent blessing, instead of asking to open gifts and see what all she received, she climbed in bed with us and cuddled until Jaron and Luke came down to pounce on all of us. The three of them headed to the living room and squealed with excitement about the goodies that were out for them to see. I can't believe they walked past the gifts and went straight to our room first thing in the morning!

Later in the evening we headed over to Josh's parent's house for dinner and gift exchange. It was a lovely evening of food, gifts, laughter, smiles, and love. Luke handled all of the excitement beautifully and Izzy and Bear were happy, appreciative, and excited with all they received. 

I am completely amazed at my children. Christmas had to be different this year because of Luke. I am so proud that each one of them handled every change so graciously. 

Dear Izzy, Bear, and Luke, 

Thank you for a perfect Christmas. I'm so proud of all of you. You each continue to amaze us everyday. Thank you for your grace, your love, and your beautiful spirits. 

We love you, 

Mommy & Daddy