The day after

Greetings friends! Well, here we are the day after Christmas, injured and much sorer than before! The day started off to the sound of "Emily, Santa brought us a Wii!!!!" at 3:00am. Yes, I said 3:00am. Apparently, our dog, Pearl, somehow got into Rachel's room (we ALWAYS make sure her door is completely shut) and woke her. She is a very light sleeper. Soooo, despite my plea to her to "wait until you see light outside before you get up," we were all up at 3:00am (did I mention it was 3:00am?) seeing what Santa brought us.

The girls went in and woke up Granddaddy and then Daddy. After googling over all the presents for a few minutes, Daddy finally convinced everyone that we really needed to sleep some more before we stay up and play. I truly felt this was an impossible thing to ask of a seven-year-old who just discovered Santa had come to her house for a visit. AND brought a Wii! BUT, miraculously his plan worked and we all awoke again approximately five hours later to enjoy the day.

So, here we are, a few injuries later. What do I mean, you ask? Well, the Wii is quite an extraordinary toy. While it IS just a video game console, it really ISN'T JUST a video game console. Those of you who have one know what I mean. I got bashed in the head for being too close to Emily's batting practice, and Emily got a bit too close to me for mine. I accidentally hit her fingers really hard when I swung. And Pearl, the dog, managed to constantly be in the way and got stepped on during game play.

The day was mostly relaxed and enjoyable and we all had a good time. The best time for me was attending our church's Christmas Eve communion.

I went last year by myself as I was asked to play for it, and I knew I wanted my family to partake this year. It was so nice being there with all of us sitting together as a family for this sacred event. It did have its funny moments as well. Like when the bread came around for everyone to get a piece. Rachel got hers and it went straight into her mouth! She didn't realize you were supposed to wait for everyone to eat at the same time. She managed to retrieve it as she had not chewed it up yet... When she finally did get to eat it, the face she made was priceless. She was not too impressed with the Lord's supper bread part. She like the juice, though. It was so funny because she could hardly wait to drink it, but when she finally did, she only took small sips so it would last longer. Too funny.

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and we wish everyone a Happy and safe New Year!

Mom, I know that Santa isn't real...

Ouch! These words hit me like a Mack truck. I couldn't believe it! Just this past Christmas E. was eagerly anticipating Santa's arrival like R. I do recall her telling me that some kid her class mentioned to her that there was no such thing as Santa. Curious to her reaction, I watched her closely and thought everything was cool. This just came totally out of the blue...

Well, E and I were sitting on the couch last night and she was wiggling her newest loose tooth and apparently pondering the fact that she knew there was no tooth fairy (she learned that some time ago), so I guess it was just a matter of time before she realized Santa was just a fairy tale. I almost wanted to cry! My first born has it all figured out now. I guess in a way it's a relief so now I don't have to pretend (at least with her!) and she can feel a part while we still keep it from R. Sigh. Such a sad time for me....

However, I was quick to ask, "Well, since you know there's no tooth fairy and no Santa, do you still believe there's a Jesus?" Now, E. has been saved (2005) and baptized already, but I still felt compelled to ask this question. Mainly, because my mother shared with me many years ago that she never wanted to instill belief in Santa to me (my dad did it mostly) because she feared I would one day feel the same about Jesus. Her answer was an undeniable "yes!" She looked at me as if I was foreign for asking such a question. I was glad. But this Christmas is gonna be weird!!