December was great. It truly was for us as they say the most wonderful time of the year. Jacob and Joshua were really into giving presents this year. They had most of their presents made and wrapped the first week of December. If only I had been so on-the-ball. Jacob kept saying to me, “Christmas is going to be here before you know it.” And of course it was. Still we managed to do plenty to celebrate the season. We listened to Christmas music constantly, read Christmas stories nightly, baked and delivered goodies, made ornaments, sang carols, wrapped presents (the boys got quite good at this), and talked a lot about Santa (which, I must admit, got a little old for me - as much as I love the magic of Santa Claus, I sometimes wish we could forget about it – It is often such a distracting tradition). We watched my favorite Christmas movie It’s a Wonderful Life as a family and the boys also enjoyed several other holiday favorites.

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents home. After a yummy dinner, we read the Christmas Story and the Children dressed up and acted it out. It wasn’t the most reverent thing. Aaron was a shepherd, but he was pretty sure that his cloak was a cape and that he was actually superman. This got into all the other little boys heads and we had a room full of supposed-to-be wise-men and shepherd that were running around pretending to be super-heros. Thankfully Jacob (a wise-man), Joshua (Joseph), and Regan (Mary) did a good job at staying focused. In fact, I think they were really into it, thinking about their roles.

Joshua as Joseph
and

Regan as Mary

After opening a few presents, we returned home to get ready for the magic. We set out cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. The boys dressed in their new PJs from Grandma Applegarth, said their prayers (praying of course for Santa safe arrival) and got in bed (visions of quivers and arrows and binoculars dancing in their heads). Shane and I locked our door and got to work. I was mostly done constructing their quivers. But, I still had to sew and attach the straps and Shane still had to build and paint the target. So, we were up a little late. We finished our Santa Claus act around 1:00 in the morning and fell into bed. I think we may have been as excited as the boys. But, we definitely weren’t as well rested. They woke up at 2:30 am. Luckily, they came to our room in the dark and didn’t see anything. Shane took them back to bed and told them not to open their door again until at least 5:30. They were obedient and kindly waited until 5:45 to arouse us. We said family prayer. Then, I went out and turned on the lights and Shane let ‘em loose!

Santa came!

Joshua trying out his binoculars

Aaron's quiver is almost as big as he is.

Jacob and his favorite arrow

We had an awesome Christmas morning. The boys spent the morning making arrows, shooting their bows (in the basement), playing basketball (again in the basement) with the new balls Santa brought Shane, and playing baseball with the T-Ball set Santa brought for Aaron. Aaron’s favorite thing though was his stocking (Santa brought him all the special treats he could eat). The boys were so preoccupied with their gifts from Santa they completely forgot about all the presents under the tree. So after our late breakfast, it was Shane and I that suggested we should open the rest of the gifts.

Of their wrapped gifts from Mom and Dad, their favorites were the roller blades for Jacob and Joshua and a new scooter for Brigham. Shane, the biggest “boy” in our family, was happy to receive a pair of ice skates (he has been really wanting a pair) from me. And I was given “a day out” to go shopping and get ready for the baby from Shane. From Jacob and Joshua, I was given a necklace from each of them. Both were similar, made of yarn with buttons threaded on it in a pattern. It was really sweet of them.
We spent the afternoon at my parents. David called and we all enjoyed talking with him. We watched a movie and ate good food. It was a lovely day.