Christmas 2010

We had a great time celebrating Christmas... 4 times in 7 days!  We were wiped out after all of the food, family, get togethers, presents, cookies, etc..  It's so incredibly easy to lose sight of what the advent season is all about.  Since Claire is getting old enough to start understanding holidays, Justin and I really had to talk this year about what we want Christmas to be for our kids.  We made some decisions about how we want to be intentional about the way we approach the holiday season, what we want our focus and our children's focus to be on, and what traditions we want to incorporate into our celebrations.  It's hard enough as it is to get distracted from the unmatchable gift we were given in Jesus.  THAT and only that is what Christmas is about!!  Without that gift, there would be nothing to celebrate.  We want to keep Christmas as simple as possible (NOT an easy task!) by giving each of our children just three gifts each year - because Jesus was given three gifts from the wise men.  We've also decided not to 'do' the whole Santa thing.  Obviously they will know (and already do!) who Santa is but we want our kids to know their gifts are from mom and dad and that they are given these gifts because we were given the BEST gift of all - JESUS!  If you ask Claire why we celebrate Christmas, she'll tell you because it's Jesus' birthday!!  May it always be so simple and clear-cut!  I pray that my children will be grateful girls and will learn to focus on God's amazing gift to us.  

I somehow went on a small tangent there.  :)  Anyway, Christmas celebration #1 was with Justin's mom and step-dad at Andy and Lacey's house the Saturday before Christmas.       

As always, Nana and Papa were so generous!  The food was yummy and the time together was sweet!

Despite the crazy snow storm on Christmas Eve, we drove to Jorie and Mark's house for Christmas celebration #2 with their family and Grammy & Babu.  We had a delicious feast, including some of our traditional Swedish favorites. 


Christmas Eve morning

Our Family

The girls with Grammy and Babu

The cousins had fun playing together and opening their gifts.  Grammy and Babu picked out the perfect things for the girls and spoiled all of us!  One of the highlights of our time together each year is our ornament exchange.  We draw names and you get your selected person a gift and then a special ornament for that year.  I always look forward to seeing what ornament everyone gets!  This year my mom had me and she picked out a cute snowman family ornament with all four of our names on it and then one that looks like a coffee bag - to go with my addiction to coffee! :)  Mark had Justin and got him an ornament that looks like a tool box with tools in it and it says 'Do it yourself' - perfect!  The other highlight of our time together was the gift for the three Dill Boys.  Justin made them a Lego table and it turned out great!  They loved it and I hear it's already getting some good use! :) 

We came back home, full of yummy food and totally exhausted and went straight to bed.  It was wonderful to wake up in our own home on Christmas morning!  We started our celebration (#3) with some strong coffee and Justin reading the story of Jesus' birth from Luke chapter 2. 

The girls in their new matching Christmas jammies!

 Then they got to open their gifts.  Since they only got 3, it was nice to take our time and enjoy each gift before moving on to the next one.

What a beautiful Christmas morning!

Then, we headed to Eric and Jenny's house for Christmas #4.  We celebrated there with Eric and Jenny's family, Andy and Lacey's family, and Justin's dad and stepmom.  I was so wiped out that I didn't even take any pictures this time.. oops!!

Anyway, we had a nice, low-key time together, despite some crabby girls (they were worn out from so much partying)!  Grandpa and Grandma always pick out the cutest gifts and both girls love their new toys!  They, too, are so good to us and really spoil us!

Merry Christmas!!!  May your life be changed because of that tiny baby that was given to us that first Christmas. 

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders,

and he will be called

Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God,

Everlasting Father,

Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6