Today a King is born

We have exchanged an unreasonable amount of gifts this year. And to think this was supposed to be a low key Christmas. We definitely did not end up sticking to that plan. It's been a little difficult to keep focus on the real meaning of Christmas with Elise. She is still pretty young to grasp that concept, but we have been talking about today being Jesus' birthday. I'm looking forward to her getting a bit older so we can really start learning more about Jesus. This year it is safe to say that the gifts have overshadowed things a bit! I am starting a One Year Bible reading group on January 1st, and our little group will endeavor to read the entire Bible in 2008. Having said that, check out all these gifts!!! This is a combination of gifts for both sides of our family, though.

We had a great time last night with my parents, my grandmother, and Jamie's dad and stepmom. Dinner was yummy as usual, and then we spent the rest of the evening opening gifts and having coffee, hot chocolate, and dessert!

After all the activity last night at mom's house, we headed home and prepared for Santa! Elise sprinkled reindeer food in the yard and we put out cookies and milk for Santa. Then it was off to bed!

"Sprinkle on the lawn Christmas Eve night,

Rudolph's nose will make it sparkle bright.

As Santa's reindeer roam,

The scent of oats will guide them to our home."

This morning we all woke up super early to be sure we caught the first glimpse of Elise coming downstairs! Santa was very good to her this year.

The boys also enjoyed getting a lot of new toys from Gizmo, Scrappy, Carmella, and Santa!

It's been another great holiday season. This is traditionally the time of year when I'm very thankful for all that we have been blessed with...and also very thankful that we are returning to normal!! Elise has a hard time when deviating from her schedule. She also has some difficulty with transitions. The combination of the 2 make this time of year a little bit tricky. We have a lot of great fun, but it's hard on her to an extent. I think she has definitely been overstimulated a few times in the last couple of days. I will be glad to put some order back to the house tomorrow and get back into our routine. No more candy for breakfast!