Thank You, Baby Jesus!

The house is quiet again, the children are asleep, phew!

After a Christmas Eve party with Hubby's extended family, we didn't get home until 8:30, and the kids didn't get to bed until 9!!! I was utterly exhausted, yet I woke up at 4 am, wishing the children would get up soon. Clearly, I was delusional.

Our Christmas morning was fun, although not smooth. The weather was stormy, there was no way to get the kids out for some physical activity before getting down to business. Aidan, of course, wanted to rip open present after present, and did not want to see other people open their presents. So he got reprimanded. Then of course, Zoe was the same, and she got reprimanded.

We enjoyed some French toast that I made from my own challah, and it was awesome. So good that I might just do this every Christmas.

Eventually, all the gifts were opened, the parents showered, and everyone was dressed. We went for a very brisk walk, brisk, because it was incredibly windy. Then lunch, then nap, and after that, it was much a blur of reprimanding children and trying to play with their presents...

We went out to dinner and it seemed like the only option was Chinese. So Chinese it was. A&Z were still just bundles of energy- they even got reprimanded by the restaurant manager: The carpet is really dirty, don't roll around in it! That was a new low: first of all, to be told by Chinese guy that we were letting our kids roll in dirt (as you probably know, Chinese restaurants are not the cleanest of all places.) Secondly, maybe you should then clean the carpet?!

Bath time was much the same: Stop this, Stop that. Don't do that to your brother/sister. Leave him/her alone. Show some respect!!!

Finally, at Aidan's story time, I was telling him about all the things we CAN talk about other than Star Wars (a parent can really only listen to tales of the clones for so long...) and Aidan started to bounce up and down...you guessed it, he got reprimanded AGAIN! I told him that he lost his story time privileges, he could read the book himself, and I would return to pray for him before bedtime.

When I got back, he was mildly weepy, and he said, "Mommy, can you pray for me, for my listening ears?" I encouraged him to pray himself, he said: "Dear God, thank you sending us your Son to die for my sins. Thank you for the wonderful things we have to eat, thank you for my sister. Thank you for giving us Christmas. Amen."

It was an incredible way to end Christmas Day. Indeed, thank you Baby Jesus, for coming to die for our sins so that we could be reconciled with God. Thank you!!!