Christmas

So, there we are, unwrapping gifts and my 9 year old son, C has a breakdown. He just can't keep himself from crying. I'm sure the fact that I was smiling through the whole thing was very confusing to him. By the time we finished all the individual gifts, even my older boy was looking a bit distraught. After all, they had opened all their underwear, socks, pants and accessory items - but had not seen even a glimmer of hope in the region of their "wish lists". It may qualify as cruel and unusual on Christmas morning to set aside all such gifts until the end - but it sure was fun for D and me! Finally, out came the Wii - along with all the gifts even remotely related to the Wii. . .and out came the smiles. (D had taken care of every aspect of that gift, thank heaven. I would have seriously botched it. I'm sure.) The best part of that gift, for me, was watching my 12 year old son play baseball with my 6 year old daughter, and then boxing, and ping pong. There were literally hours of VERY LOW CONFLICT play with the majority of my children involved in that play. That's a pretty cool game, no matter how you look at it. I made cookies with Q - which is roughly equivalent to playing in a sand box with him because all he really wanted to do was play with the dough. Little A got in on that, too. I also spent some time with Q working on a sticker book - which was much more fun than I even imagined, and which he LOVED! While I was doing that with Q, A was snuggled up next to me and didn't move for 1/2 an hour. It was a mother's dream. My children gathered around, no one fighting or working hard to get more of my attention. Everyone was happy. Everyone stayed happy the rest of the day. There weren't enough compliments for the pants, socks and underwear - "I love these, MOM! I really NEEDED more socks. This shirt is so soft. These pants fit PERFECTLY!" (I'm not exaggerating, they really said those things.) We were feeling the love. It lasted all day. It flowed over at Grandma's house, too. More love. More warm fuzzy feelings. Cousins running and playing. At the end of the day, I was sorry to see it end. I could have stayed there in that feeling forever. There's a way to make that happen. His name is Christ. Loving, giving and keeping Him close can make every day feel like Christmas. That is the peaceful gift of Christmas. I hope you enjoyed it, too.