We had a great Christmas.
We spent the weekend before Christmas with my side of our family, since it requires a 3 hour drive each way. It was so great to see the girls playing with their cousins. The last few times we have been able to spend time together, the kids have gotten very GOOD at playing together.
I must say, the most adorable thing I have seen in a long time is two 2.5 year old kids having a conversation. (C and cousin L were born exactly 2 weeks apart)
We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day around home, we went to Andy's Aunt and Uncle's house for dinner on Christmas Eve.
We spend a lovely morning at home on Christmas day, opening our gifts (and Santa gifts!), had a nice little breakfast, and let E take her nap before we headed to Andy's parents house.
Here are the girls after opening up all the gifts at home:
C's favorite gift was her Precious Places Swan Princess Castle and Accessories.
E's favorite gift was the apple out of her stocking and a balloon (go figure!).
It was pretty wild over at my in-law's because there were 19 people there! We all managed to have a good time, aside from the dining room table not being *quite* big enough any more. There were also three babies celebrating a first Christmas, which was pretty special. The above picture shows E with three of her cousins, the twins and older cousin A-trying to do damage control with her gifts :)
For some reason C was feeling a bit overwhelmed and wanted to sit right next to me during the gift opening. Here she is under a pile of gifts, ready to open!
Next year I am going to make it a point that we do something special to celebrate the REAL reason for the season. I want to make sure the girls understand that Christmas isn't all about presents and Santa, and cookies (although those parts are fun!).
I have a couple ideas:
· Make a birthday cake for Jesus.
· Teach about the Advent leading up to Christmas (and make it a priority to attend church services from Thanksgiving-Christmas, including Christmas Eve).
· Get and set up a nativity scene, and read related scriptures with the girls.
Does anyone have any other good ideas to help me teach the girls about CHRISTmas?
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