Every year we celebrate Christmas Eve at my grandma's house. Our tradition is to have a bowl chili and a big class of milk. Crazy, I know but that's what we do. I always love getting gifts from my grandma, as a child she would always get the neatest gifts, they were simple but showed that she took the time to put together the heartfelt gifts. When I was younger I would go over and help her put the tree up but now the large tree has been condensed down to a fiber optic tree about 4 feet tall. I still put her nativity scene up and have the pleasure of having grandma's "original" nativity scene to put up in my own home. The past 7 years my grandma's house has been getting smaller and smaller as we add new family members each year. We have now added two extra tables for dinner and next year will have to add one more because once again we have added another person to the family :)
Over the years with our family getting so big we have added the "dirty santa" game to our family traditions to help minimize the number of gifts that we had to buy. About four years ago we started this one.
Each person buys a $15-$20 gift and wraps it. Then we draw for numbers. The person with #1 goes first and picks a gift and then #2 can steal their gift or pick a different one. It is absolutely adorable to see my sweet grandma turn into a gift stealing granny when she eyes her gift. Last year the hot gift was pillows (wow, we are getting old) and this year it was a gift card to Lowes (grandma & Joey went to battle over that one). After all the gifts are opened, the dishes are done we usually finish up around 9:00 pm and then it's time to get home and get ready for the big day.
As soon as we got home it was time for the kids to "get ready for santa" Joey helped the kids pick out a snack for santa and his reindeer and then the kids hurried up and got their baths and went to bed. When Joey knew the kids were asleep he got the letter ready "from santa" and drank the glass of milk. Joey is so sweet, our kids are so young and will probably never remember this but he still made sure that everything was just perfect.
About 11:00 pm Joey and I were sitting on the couch discussing the next day and how excited we thought the kids were going to be and we heard a faint knock at our door. Joey got up and went to the door and when he opened it there was a letter. As soon as I saw him walk back in with that envelope I just started smiling, I knew God had just blessed us.
Sure enough he opened the envelope and there was a letter that said " Merry Christmas Lancasters! God Bless You" and there was 500 in cash! God is so amazing, he is ALWAYS on time and knows EXACTLY what our needs are. God knew what we needed that night and chose to bless us through the kindness and generosity of a complete stranger less than an hour before Christmas Day, the day that we celebrate as the day he gave us the ultimate "Christmas Present" Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior! Amazing, was just truly amazing!
Not only did he bless us with cash but also we were blessed with extra presents for the children. Since our kids are still young, 1, 2, & 3 years old they are very content with receiving very little and thinking it's a HUGE deal. We also decided when Ayden had his first Christmas that we did not want to go overboard with Christmas and let the kids loose the true meaning and start to think that it was all about presents.
I had bought the kids 1 toy a piece and that was going to be their present on Christmas morning from us. Well, also on Christmas Eve night, Katie, a very caring friend whose family hosts the small group that we are part of asked if she could drop some cars off, she had cleaned out her son's car collection to make room for some new ones. Katie left a whole bag of hotwheel cars for on our porch while we were at my grandma's house, I bet there was like 50 of them!
Joey took the cars and sorted them out, pulling out all the firetrucks for Brock, the police cars for Ayden and the semi-girly ones for Bethany and put them in gift bags for the kids the next morning.
Joey looked like he was a kid on Christmas morning going through the cars. That bag full of used cars was such a blessing to us.
Joey and I went to bed Christmas Eve night with so much appreciation and in awe of God. We were able to tell the children the next morning the story of Christmas and share with them the Christmas miracle we received the night before. We were and continue to be so blessed!
Every year we celebrate Christmas Eve at my grandma's house. Our tradition is to have a bowl chili and a big class of milk. Crazy, I know but that's what we do. I always love getting gifts from my grandma, as a child she would always get the neatest gifts, they were simple but showed that she took the time to put together the heartfelt gifts. When I was younger I would go over and help her put the tree up but now the large tree has been condensed down to a fiber optic tree about 4 feet tall. I still put her nativity scene up and have the pleasure of having grandma's "original" nativity scene to put up in my own home. The past 7 years my grandma's house has been getting smaller and smaller as we add new family members each year. We have now added two extra tables for dinner and next year will have to add one more because once again we have added another person to the family :)
Over the years with our family getting so big we have added the "dirty santa" game to our family traditions to help minimize the number of gifts that we had to buy. About four years ago we started this one.
Each person buys a $15-$20 gift and wraps it. Then we draw for numbers. The person with #1 goes first and picks a gift and then #2 can steal their gift or pick a different one. It is absolutely adorable to see my sweet grandma turn into a gift stealing granny when she eyes her gift. Last year the hot gift was pillows (wow, we are getting old) and this year it was a gift card to Lowes (grandma & Joey went to battle over that one). After all the gifts are opened, the dishes are done we usually finish up around 9:00 pm and then it's time to get home and get ready for the big day.
As soon as we got home it was time for the kids to "get ready for santa" Joey helped the kids pick out a snack for santa and his reindeer and then the kids hurried up and got their baths and went to bed. When Joey knew the kids were asleep he got the letter ready "from santa" and drank the glass of milk. Joey is so sweet, our kids are so young and will probably never remember this but he still made sure that everything was just perfect.
About 11:00 pm Joey and I were sitting on the couch discussing the next day and how excited we thought the kids were going to be and we heard a faint knock at our door. Joey got up and went to the door and when he opened it there was a letter. As soon as I saw him walk back in with that envelope I just started smiling, I knew God had just blessed us.
Sure enough he opened the envelope and there was a letter that said " Merry Christmas Lancasters! God Bless You" and there was 500 in cash! God is so amazing, he is ALWAYS on time and knows EXACTLY what our needs are. God knew what we needed that night and chose to bless us through the kindness and generosity of a complete stranger less than an hour before Christmas Day, the day that we celebrate as the day he gave us the ultimate "Christmas Present" Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior! Amazing, was just truly amazing!
Not only did he bless us with cash but also we were blessed with extra presents for the children. Since our kids are still young, 1, 2, & 3 years old they are very content with receiving very little and thinking it's a HUGE deal. We also decided when Ayden had his first Christmas that we did not want to go overboard with Christmas and let the kids loose the true meaning and start to think that it was all about presents.
I had bought the kids 1 toy a piece and that was going to be their present on Christmas morning from us. Well, also on Christmas Eve night, Katie, a very caring friend whose family hosts the small group that we are part of asked if she could drop some cars off, she had cleaned out her son's car collection to make room for some new ones. Katie left a whole bag of hotwheel cars for on our porch while we were at my grandma's house, I bet there was like 50 of them!
Joey took the cars and sorted them out, pulling out all the firetrucks for Brock, the police cars for Ayden and the semi-girly ones for Bethany and put them in gift bags for the kids the next morning.
Joey looked like he was a kid on Christmas morning going through the cars. That bag full of used cars was such a blessing to us.
Joey and I went to bed Christmas Eve night with so much appreciation and in awe of God. We were able to tell the children the next morning the story of Christmas and share with them the Christmas miracle we received the night before. We were and continue to be so blessed!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.