Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Merry Christmas!

We pray that everyone had a Merry Christmas yesterday. We did except...poor Hannah got some kind of bug and spend most of the morning and early afternoon "gaking." The good news is that she hasn't gaked in 16+ hours, so hopefully the worst is behind us. She slept well last night, but this morning all she's done is lay on the floor, watch her new Dora movie, and eat a few Saltines. So keep her (and us!) in your prayers (so far, no one else shows signs of getting it, but you never know).

Otherwise, our Christmas was really nice. We spent the day as a family, opening presents, eating, and resting. We had planned to go caroling at a nearby hospital with some other sem families, but with Hannah feeling cruddy, we decided to try again next year. Hannah got lots of art stuff, some new books, new Barbie-type dolls, and from Santa, a new Bible, which she loves. It's the same Bible they use in her Sunday school and while it's still not the actual Bible, the stories are longer than her toddler Bible and incorporate a few phrases from Scripture. We read quite a bit from it yesterday.

And now begins "the twelve days of Christmas," which has a special significance in our family. Not only is January 6 Epiphany (the day we celebrate the Wise Men bringing gifts to the baby King), but it's also Don's birthday. When Don was growing up, they didn't really do stocking stuffers, but each member of the family would have a basket with 12 small gifts in it and they would open up one each day after Christmas leading up to January 6. That's a special memory for Don, but I've never been able to get my act together enough to buy 12 small, meaningful gifts for him or anyone else. One year I tried stuffing his stocking with small things from the dollar store, and while he was sweet about it, the truth is that my oh-so-practical husband really would rather not have gifts that aren't useful. Anyway, in honor of the twelve days of Christmas and Epiphany, I thought I'd post this video I found on another blog I enjoy reading.



In other news, Bethie now has 7 teeth (if I don't post that now I'll forget to) and she enjoyed her first Christmas as well. For her, it was a perfect day - she got to be at home with her favorite people, take all her naps in her bed, and get lots of attention. She got to scoot around on the floor eating scraps of wrapping paper and ribbon. She got a Rock-a-Stack from Grammies, so of course that's tons of fun. Her favorite thing seemed to be a floating Baby Einstein book. She chewed on and turned the pages of that book for the longest time yesterday.

Don got some pint glasses from Schlafly Bottleworks, a local brewery with beer we really like. (For all you Bakersfieldians, it's a lot like Lengthwise, only much bigger.) He is also excited to try making creme brulee with his new kit and blow torch. I got a Harry Potter movie, some jewelry, new dish towels, a Concordia Seminary sweatshirt, smelly-good lotion, and a cranberry candle.

These small gifts were certainly a joy for us to give to each other. Still, we know that the best present of all was the one Hannah opened first: the baby Jesus.

Merry Christmas and a Joyful New Year!

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