Christmas Day

What a great Christmas Day!  After the hustle and bustle of the previous week(s) I think we were all ready for a super laid back day with nothing to do but celebrate!  So grateful to Jesus for the special gift of yesterday - in one sense it seemed like time slowed down and the day stretched on forever, and in another sense I was so sad to realize it was 6pm already.

Christmas Eve night we joined a bunch of other foreign families for a big celebration - lots of kids and lots of food and lots of fun!  I never seem to take many photos at events like that, and I wish I did.  Matt narrated and I "directed" the kids in the acting out of the Christmas story.  I didn't count how many actors/actresses we had - maybe about twenty, between the ages of two and eight.  Pretty awesome :)

The kids were invited to attend in their pjs and my kiddos thought this was great fun - and I do love this one picture of us cuddling on the couch....this baby in the belly is well-loved, often-snuggled, frequently-squished.... I often think "oh little one, how preciously safe is your current home and how different things are going to be when you need Momma's constant vigilance and protection!"   

We started Christmas morning (not too early, thankfully!) with the kids giving the gifts they purchased for their siblings and parents.  Total money spent is pretty limited, but the heart behind the gift is so neat to see, and they really do a good job choosing for one another.  Mostly, we just want to instill this spirit of "it is more blessed to give than to receive", even while the Lord has placed our family in a economic place that makes us wealthier than probably 90% of the people on the planet.... 

All three kids gave Matt something "to play with them" - a mini football, mini basketball, and kids-sized badminton set. 

Isaac finally got a glimpse of the promised "gift too big to fit under the tree" (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!). 

And we spent a lot of time outside playing - it was chilly, but there was a speck of sun in the sky (not always the case here in our smoggy, foggy gray-colored home town).

Isaac with his new ball and baseball bat (and the improvised baseball T, an empty water container is basically the perfect height for my little man).   

We went nice and easy for Momma in the kitchen (after weeks of cooking!).  Cinnamon rolls for breakfast (which I made up the night before, so it really is easy to pop them in Christmas morning), cheese and summer sausage and crackers (yum - imported!) and hummus and veggies and fruit for a snack-y lunch and dinner. 

And then more opening gifts.  We didn't finish til about 4 oclock! - not because the pile was that big, but because we took it so slow (and took time out for some naps!)  If we opened something and heard "can we read it now? can we play with it now? can we do this puzzle now?" then we stopped and read and played along the way.  Loved this! 

Took a nice long afternoon bike ride - now that Isaac is on a two-wheeler my days of being able to keep up with the three of them on foot is limited! 

Puzzles and games before dinner :) 

It's late afternoon on the 26th and I scrambled to get these photos uploaded cause I really want to remember these days!  Hosting a group of local friends for dinner tonight, two crock pots of chili cooking and I need to get my potatoes and bread baking!