A little late...

posting about Christmas, however, things were a little crazy around here. And I am now just feeling like things are getting back into a grove.

On Christmas Eve, we headed up to the cabin. We were blessed to be able to spend Christmas with both sets of grandparents. The kids tracted Santa on computer with Dad and then Grandma Tracee read them The Night Before Christmas.

To no surprise, we had a hard time getting Emilee and Garrit to bed. We finally got them to sleep around 10 pm and Junior and I got to bed about 12. At 2 a.m. Garrit woke up to see that Santa had already stopped by. I thought I had convinced him to go back to bed, however, he went back to his room and got Emilee. Junior finally got them back in bed at 3. They only held out until 6:30.

I tried to get a picture of all 3 of my kids in front of the tree, however, a lesson I have learned taking pictures of my crew is you get what get and you don't throw a fit.

Christmas was great. This year we only got the kids a few small gifts, that combined with the gifts that grandmas gave them it turned out perfect. Emilee got webkins, Garrit got legos, (Thanks Grandpa for helping put them together.) and Zane got a Handy Manny tool kit.

This Christmas I did not focus on what to get my kids, husband, or parents. Instead I focused on one thing that they would really love. Christmas this year was not about putting things under the tree just to open. It took a lot of stress off me and really let the spirit of Christmas into my heart. Emilee told me later that day "Mom, this is the best Christmas ever." I learned that my kids don't need a bunch of toys for Christmas they just need to know that Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Christ and because of him we are blessed.