On the First Day of Christmas

Day one of the Advent Christmas Bag tradition was full of emotion.

My husband got up with the girls this morning to give me a few extra moments of sleep. When I realized it was December 1st, I hopped out of bed knowing my child, who has been eagerly anticipating the morning, would not be overly excited to wait for mom to wake up to finally open her present.

Before we got to the girls' gift bags we wanted them to know why we give gifts at Christmas time. Chad found the story of Jesus' birth in Lainey's Bible and read about the gift of His birth to us and the world. He then explained that we give gifts to one another at Christmas in celebration of Jesus' birthday. 

Lainey is about to turn three on the 15th of this month. Since about the beginning of October she has been telling everyone we meet that, "It's almost my birthday!" She is loving the idea that she now gets a present because of Jesus' birthday too!

Katie was thrilled at the thought that it was story time, so was ready with Mickey Mouse's Club House as her book choice. 

 I may have bought new jammies for Lainey so the pictures would look more festive!

Excitement continued to build as each girl grabbed her bag. Keep in mind, my anticipation is at about the same level as I am reliving my childhood memories through my girls.

The time had finally come for the first present to be opened and this was the reaction that followed...

We are not exactly sure what caused the onset of tears. I think it was hearing the words, "When you go to sleep..." because the girl would love to be awake forever and never have to sleep again. It did not take long to recover and be thrilled with her gift!

It was then Katie's turn to open her gift. 

She is not as well versed in present opening as Lainey. I have a feeling that by Christmas she will have the hang of it though. Somehow Lainey still ended up the star in Katie's video. 

Lainey has now watched the above video about a dozen times and laughs hysterically each time at seeing herself trip. Happy to see we have taught her that it's good to laugh at yourself. As my daughter, she will have plenty of opportunities to laugh at herself.

Katie enjoyed her Goldfish breakfast and shared some of her gift with her sister too.

With all the highs and lows of this first day of Christmas, I am looking forward to see what the rest of the month brings.

I love that I got a call from my brother around 7:30am seeing if we could hold off opening the gifts until 9:00am when his breakfast meeting was over so he could join us for the festivities. He and I are very much alike. Half the fun of giving a gift is watching the response of the receiver.

Unfortunately the gifts were already opened so instead he got to accompany the girls and I to the pediatrician's office. He got the joy of helping me wrangle kiddos and assist in dabbing drippy eyes and noses. I know how to show people a good time when they come to visit. Who wants to visit next?

Holidays are fantastic, but also feel like they can be a potential set up for disappointment. I feel like Christmas and the Christmas season is built up with so much expectation for being magical, wonderful, and perfect that anything less can feel like a let down. I love to make things special, but am learning (and hoping to pass along to the girls) that a healthy sense of reality in the midst of "special" is good to hold onto.

Even if everything is not perfect we can be joyful!

 So although there were tears, the memory that we get to have and the video of Lainey tripping is priceless and I wouldn't trade it for anything. It has actually brought more joy and laughter than if Lainey would have just had a response that was all smiles and giggles.