Christmas Thoughts and Events

Christmas season can seem so overwhelming.....most of the time.  All the shopping, decorating, cooking, party going, children's concerts, getting letters out, finding quality family time, and serving are all fun, but added together, even scheduling a night by the Christmas Tree with the kids can seem exhausting.  Anyways, that's how I was feeling this Christmas.  I'd remind myself to search deeper for the Christmas Spirit, and then I honestly started wondering, what exactly is the Christmas spirit and is it possible to attain amongst all this hustle and bustle?  Where was my example?  Was it the mother who adds yet another thing and sews her daughters beautiful Christmas dresses?  Was it found in the poor family whose mother stays up all night boiling the last squash to extract some sugar to make cookies?  Was I supposed to simplify, and if so, what in tarnation was I supposed to cut out?
I was in the shower one morning when the answer came to me...duh.  I started thinking about Mary, Christ's mother.  How overburdened she must have felt as she traveled 80 miles on a donkey, expecting a baby any day.  When she and Joseph finally arrived in Bethlehem, I'm sure every innkeeper's first look at the soon-to-be mother was part of the reason why they found themselves destitute without a place to stay.  A filthy stable was where Mary had her precious baby, followed by stranger shepherds coming to visit soon after.  I'm sure, for Mary, through the months of carrying the Christ child and leading up to the blessed Christmas night, there were heavy sighs, tearful nights, and heavy shoulders.  However, Mary continued to stay close to her God and find joy in her blessed burden.  Amongst it all, she found peace, love, patients, and happiness.  Yes, to me Mary embodies the Christmas spirit, and once I understood this, the spirit of Christmas rested a bit on my heart.  Christmas is supposed to be a time of hard work and sacrifice, but hopefully, through it all, we can find what Mary found and come that much closer to God and hear a little clearer the heavens rejoicing, for Christ truly was born and came to save us from our sins.  What a wonderful story, and what a wonderful truth.
That said, I've posted some pictures from our Christmas Traditions.
We always love when Santa comes to our little town and calls our children by name.  Kimball has yet to sit on his lap though, and apparently this was the first year Peter decided he was too old for Santa's lap.  Sigh.  I guess kids grow up.  Elsie, however, was prepared with her list, and cozied on up.  She is so fun.

 We have a neighbor from Scotland who introduced us to Christmas crackers.  You pull on them, and out pops (literally) a little surprise, a paper crown, and a sometimes funny joke.  It's a great tradition that I think we'll adopt.  It was a perfect addition to our candlelit Christmas Eve dinner. 

 Christmas morning started at 6:30 in the Jeppson household.  Baby Jesus was found in his manger, and after a quick but heartfelt prayer, it was time to open presents!

 Stockings are always so fun, and perhaps everyone's favorites.  Santa fills our stockings with oranges (and this year a pomegranate), a little candy, and fun little toys.  Everything (almost) is wrapped, and it's always fun for the kids to see if the little package they're about to open is a fun toy, or tic-tacs.

 Anna loved the chocolates in her stocking!  She carted them all around, opened each one, took a bite, and left the rest on the floor for someone else to find later.  The kids had to hide their candy 'cause she took liberties of her own with theirs as well.

 This was one of Kimball's favorite gifts.  The gun lights up and makes really loud noises.  I think Santa was trying to help Mom out by finding a gun that didn't leave little nerf bullets or discs lying around the house everywhere.  It helped her back, but not her hearing!

 An excited Elsie.  She loves little things, so the legos and polly pockets she got for Christmas were perfect!

 Peter was really excited about all his presents, especially this one.  The Tron movie and a toy to go along.  Thanks Grammy!

 

I just have to note what Mike got me for Christmas.  He is so sweet.  I have these children's book I love called the ValueTales that are out of print.  I look for them whenever I'm in a used book or second-hand store.  Well, he hunted really hard and surprised us with eight new ValueTales!  I don't know how he did it, but I think he's pretty amazing.  To top it off, he even got me a blend-tec.  I really feel spoiled and loved.  He's so great.

And now it's all over.  Ahhh.  Christmas is fun.  Happy and excited kids are great.  These past couple days we've really enjoyed playing with new toys and bored games together.  Hope everyone had a great Christmas!