Christmas Catch Up

So...this is my post-Christmas post.

And Christmas was....pause...search for the right words....pause...unexpected. But I have learnt some lessons and look forward to remembering them next year!

Christmas Eve was a non starter. Not only had I not planned anything special, but the boys were shattered from their week of not being well, as well as the excitement of presents to come to the extent that they were in bed by 6pm! I felt grim the whole day - thankfully just nauseous, no actual follow through, and so it was also an early night for me.

Christmas morn was lovely. Especially waking (at 0515 the first time, which we pushed to 0615!) to little whispers about bumps in stockings and all the wonder and delight that that entailed...

Braveheart is, by no stretch of the imagination,
a morning person!

Eating sweets before breakfast -
a child's idea of bliss!

Then after giving them time to enjoy their stockings (an aside here - we have never explained anything about Father Christmas, whether he's real or not: the culture has done it for us. I'm amazed by what my kids understand about sleighs and reindeer and all of that, without any of it passing my lips. Food for thought about what else our kids pick up on that our culture has taught them huh?), we progressed to the lounge where we gave them the presents we had bought for them....their joy and delight is priceless. I love having Christmas with my kids!

(not sure why the picture quality is so bad - apologies)

I tried to dress Belle in this lovely dress my cousin sent over from the UK a while ago, because Belle loves dresses and loves pink, but for some reason this dress freaked her out! She sobbed and sobbed - we even took this photo to show her she looked like a princess - but took the dress off within a few minutes! I think it was the fabric that freaked her out!

Sadly Braveheart started feeling very ill mid morning, and he spent the day getting paler and paler.

Family arrived around lunch time for a festive meal....

The boys laid this - was so proud of them
 for helping and following instructions!

For Braveheart, the Christmas ham is the best part of Christmas and marks the season for him - and he only managed one piece and that was really pushing it! Poor man!

Sadly this part of the day was the unexpected part...epic politics in an extended family that made lunch awkward and positively horrible - bleugh! However dear friends popped in at the end of the day and that was grand - I was so thankful that friends can lift your spirits in spite of hovering black clouds.

Since then Braveheart has pretty much been on his bed, poor guy, just zapped of energy and appetite, so here's hoping with the dawn of tomorrow all will be well!

The lessons I've learnt?

I've learnt that traditions don't just happen. They take some forward thinking and planning. I've recently come across so many posts about a Jesse tree, and am so keen to make that a part of our Christmas next year. I think it's a beautiful way to remember the reason for Christmas.

And I want to create a special way of celebrating Christmas Eve, whether it's a meal or doing the nativity story or something like that. We've often had people over on Christmas Eve that have no friends or other family around, but this year I guess we just let time slip by.

 I want to teach my kids to be thankful no matter what they receive, and to encourage them to experience the joy of giving.

And I guess it all comes down to us as wives being the fragrance of our home. Yes, a marriage lends a distinctive stamp to the nature of our families. But we, as mothers and wives, hold such a special calling and responsibility to flavour our homes with grace and love, so that our children and our husbands love being able to call it home. And that means finding out what God is asking of us as wives and mothers in our homes.

That my friends, is a snapshot of the things He is laying on my heart.

How was your Christmas?