Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Grace has started to understand Christmas. When we told her it was Jesus' birthday, that was enough to make it "click" for her. Brian even made baby Jesus a "happy cake" (a.k.a a birthday cake) that we shared with my family on Christmas day.

I had a hard choice right before Christmas but decided to go ahead and have my gallbladder taken out on December 23rd. I had already missed all of the Christmas cookies and goodies and only had a taste of Sophie's birthday cake. When I was presented with the chance to have the surgery then and enjoy Christmas dinner, I felt I had to take that chance. I am soooo glad I did. I have been feeling MUCH better. It was hard to be sore around Christmas but the kids really helped in that area!


Christmas with little kids is like a tornado. They don't understand yet that presents are for different people and wanted to open them all. After watching the girls RIP open their presents, we let them open ours too because it was pure joy to watch them have at it! Grace still discards clothes when she finds them in boxes. There was an exception this year and that is her "Princess" coat that my mom got her. Sophie wants everything open all of the way. She unwrapped bars of soap in one of my gifts before I noticed what she had. oops! Matthew was just happy to be held so long. He is such a cuddle bug right now.

Sophie didn't catch that Christmas was over and kept asking for the "Santa Claus" song at bedtime. Brian gave in for an extra week or so before he started pushing for another song. The girls thought the Christmas clearance shopping at Walmart was the best thing, well until they realized they didn't keep out what they picked out. Hopefully they will still like those decorations next year!

After this Christmas, I am almost ready for next Christmas. Almost. I can't wait to see how excited they are next year. I can tell you right now that I do plan on enjoying Christmas cookies next year and will probably be a baking machine to make up for my lack of baking this year. So watch out!;)

And most importantly ... Happy Birthday, Jesus!