Christmas

On Christmas Eve we always open the pajamas that Grandma Wall makes the boys and each boy gets a new game for the family to play. This year they got a couple of their favorites that they had lost in the fire. And by the way... Carter is the Jenga KING! 

Christmas was on a Sunday this year. So, we had been preparing the boys all week that we would get up and open our presents from Santa and cousins before church and open the rest after church. 

This year McKay thought he would be funny... and every time he saw Santa he asked for a Barbie!

He had been very good to not let James and I hear! But, others had! What he REALLY wanted and literally dreamed about were the new Air Jordan's! But, when he woke up Christmas morning all Santa had left him was a Barbie!

What made things even worse was that as he was opening his Barbie Carter was opening his new Itouch that Santa had brought him. He had saved his own money to get one... But, Santa was good enough to bring it to him so he could save his money. 

McKay didn't know quite what to think! He looked around to see if he had missed something and then quickly told us that he had just been kidding! Right when he was on the verge of tears Mom noticed another package that Santa had left tucked behind the couch!  

Santa was good enough to leave another gift for a good little boy who likes to play jokes! It looked as if he got his Air Jordan's after all! But, i don't think he will ask for something funny again next year! 

I was a little worried this Christmas... I had lost all of our decorations, stockings, ornaments , etc. in the fire. I had put a big push on in November to try and get everything purchased to have the house all decorated. But, I was finding very little that I liked & it was stressing me out. It was taking away from the enjoyment of the season. So, I decided that I would get everything to decorate the tree and find stockings! If I found other things they were just an added bonus. What I did find was that by having less "Christmas" decorations our Nativity really became the focus & I really liked that. The Nativity was the only thing salvaged from the garage that was in perfect condition. The totes had melted all around it. But, the styrofoam that the nativity was packaged in had protected it. It's a true treasure to have!  

We were blessed this year to be able to have a "Secret Sister" to take little things to throughout the month. She is a widow who lives just a couple houses down and the boys absolutely adore her! It made our Christmas. The boys really got into it! They would sneak down together and ring her doorbell to leave a package and run like crazy to get home before she opened the door! If James would help them they would hide in the bushes and she would always yell out her thanks to them. I liked that there was less talk about Santa and more talk about the things we were going to do  for Sister Davies that day! That will for sure become a tradition that we do each year. It made it a very merry Christmas!