A Season for Giving

Carolina asked Santa ONLY for a blue dog. I imagine he had a pretty hard time locating one. He probably spent more on it than he planned to also.

Holt had a Star Wars Christmas. He now has the complete set of movies (oh, joy! Someone pop the corn and save me a seat...) and several more lego kits, including the Big One he had so hoped for. He had a Christmas milestone this year. This was the first time he read part of the story of Jesus' birth. Next year I imagine we'll listen to him read the entire story.

And Juliana, in some ways, was more childlike than her younger siblings. She definately wears it all on her sleeve. No one outdid her in excitement or gratefulness. I love that she still is a little child on Christmas morning. I hope she always is.

One of the few surprises that she had was a calendar from the border collie rescue where we adopted Walter. I had emailed a submission and Walter was picked as... (drumroll here) Miss July! Or maybe Mr. July. Either way, she was pretty thrilled. I can't lie... I was darn excited as well.

Gift opening took an extraordinary long time this year. Juliana, who has the love language of gifts, has been giving since she was old enough to fold paper. Her younger siblings have learned from the master, and this year Carolina cut squares of paper into envelopes for each of us. Actually, we each received several. The underside of our tree looked a bit like the post office. And Holt gave away several treasures of his own. Here is my gift- a necklace he had squirreled away from somewhere (or maybe he stole it from one of his sisters), a silk rose head and a collection of acorns he had gathered in the fall. Priceless treasures for a Mama.

They were each excited to see us open the gifts they had brought. And what better way to reflect on the meaning of Christmas. It's the one day we celebrate the Best Gift Anyone Ever Gave. One size fits all.