Christmas

I wanted to share a little poem SL shared on her blog on how to simplify Christmas gift giving:

Somthing they want
Something they need

Something to play with

Something to read.

I am thinking this will come in handy for upcoming birthdays and Christmases. You could even combine the want and play parts! I wish I had heard it when our children were growing up. To tell the truth, by the time a few Christmases had gone by, I had resorted to 'play with' gifts that could only be played with out side...sleds, skates, scooters, bikes....that way there were no small toys all over the house all of the time!

We enjoyed a fun and interesting Christmas day. Nate texted Katie at 6:30 a.m. to see if we wanted to do a "computer" call (Josieism). Of course we did and we got to see her play with her new toys, very fun for us. Plus we got to talk to Nate and Kate. We opened up Lauren's letter and read out loud to the whole family her sweet testimony and love for her family. Then we opened the

present she sent us...a dead cockroach.
We did not have the reaction we did to last year's gift of an alligator head as we were quite wary. It is a good thing we read the letter first! We decided to take a nap after the early start. Katie and Megan were out until 1:00 a.m. watching a movie with the B's. Around 11:30 the phone rang and we got to talk to Lauren to set up the time she would call AND hear the Atlantic Ocean in the background. What a way to spend Christmas morning. We ate a leisurely breakfast and decided to find out what Santa had brought. About that time, the doorbell rang and we had a nice visit with an old friend. Once again we went back to seeing what Santa had brought and the telephone rang. This time we got to talk to Lauren for real. She told us that she found the cockroach crawling on in her cupboard on her clean dishes. She captured it, put it in a jar with a tight fitting lid, and it took three weeks for it to die. Yuck! We had a most enjoyable visit and it was so good to hear her voice! All in all it was a very nice Christmas day! The best part is that we got to spend it together as a family, even if half our family is in the eastern part of the U.S.!

Sharing our love really is the best part of Christmas.