Hands-On Christmas, Friday Addition

Look, before you see any of this, let me just say- Good Night! These pictures are fuzzy. I blame myself. (As if there was anyone else to blame). My camera battery was low, and despite the fact that I had to wait 5 seconds between pictures, and every other one came out indistinguishable...I really wanted to get my picture taking done and did it anyway. And look at these fine images I have to show for it!

And so moving on... Here's a fun thing we added this year- a tree just for our kids! I got this 6' tree at Walmart for $20, and after a little lovin' and shapin', I think it looks great! Especially when it isn't fuzzy! The girls picked colored lights, and we decorated it with lots of fun ornaments. This is where we'll display "their" ornaments- things they make etc. It's a fun little tree.Also, we hung up a few of the ornaments Jim and I had when we were little.I found these handmade ornaments at a thrift store last month- All together there were 10 all for $1.99! They are really sweet- lots of different shapes- animals, candles, angels. All different and detailed. This is also where we keep the gifts- There's not really enough room in our living room for them. Each girl has a stack of gifts like this, from us. All the others are either Advent calendar gifts or are the gifts they are giving to everyone else in the family. How expensive is it for three girls and a boy to get 5 gifts for each person in this 6-person family? Well, it was a grand total of $5 for each kid. Grace and Patie used part of their allowance money, Lily and Hudson mooched off their parents... We separated the kids and took them to Dollar Tree one family night, and everyone picked out gifts for everyone else. It was pretty fun. Then we ate out together and went home and wrapped it all up! How sweet is it to see all those little gifts under the tree!? And it's pretty hilarious to see their best efforts at "keeping secrets". (By the way, I got all those boxes and bags last year after Christmas, so we'd be ready for this year, of course! We try to save as many as possible after the opening is done, to keep from just throwing them away. They're really useful!

Never underestimate the power of controlled amounts of TV for your kids. It means when they do watch it, they really watch it. You can get all kinds of stuff done!

One more thing to mention- two years ago I searched for a very life-like little baby to place under the tree each Christmas morning before everyone wakes up. When our girls come out to open gifts, there's a reminder of the best Gift of all wrapped up for them to gently pick up and hold and imagine what Jesus would have been like as a baby. The doll is actually much more life-like than he looks here! He really does look very real, and feels real, and is even weighted to really seem real. This may be my favorite tradition my kids inspired. I'm actually tearing up just typing this. It's really touched me to see that little baby, after waiting through the whole season to celebrate His birth! It's just a precious reminder or the smallness of a newborn, and the miracle of God contained inside flesh. Just amazing.