My Kid Circus

Christmas was all things wonderful.Visits with SantaShopping for Christmas trees (don’t you shop in formal wear??)School programs with serious kids Lots of fun with grandparents!Some first ChristmasesMatching PJs, matching dolls…And my favorite Christmas pageant. Moment to remember: sweet little angel eagerly waving to her cousin the sheep!  Oh, and “Once in Royal David’s City”. That is one brave kid!Cookies and letters to Santa. 

Oh, did you know that Santa RECYCLES?? He does! That is why we left him a big bag of toys to pass on to other kids who could use them!! 🙂And we had some very happy kids!

Many Christmases we have one thing that stands out. Like the year that Drew stated in awe, “I was good?!”, or the year that Kaitlyn walked across the room for the first time. These are the things that live on in family lore.

This year for me it will be Hannah asking Santa for a wishing well. I honestly think this was the smartest thing that any of my kids have ever asked Santa for. I mean, come on, the gift that keeps on giving. And she was so earnestly sweet about it. She already had some of her wishes planned out as things to help me, or things to bring joy to her siblings. Her frequent discourse on the great things she would do with her wishing well brought tears to my eyes several times.

Santa left her a note in this little wishing well telling her that she has been so good, but that he is not allowed to give away magic. I was so worried that she would be crestfallen, but she was THRILLED to get a letter from Santa!! Sweet, sweet girl.

It was truly the most wonderful time of the year.

Happy New Year!!

Kids went back to school today. Sign. I know, I know, “cue the violins”.

We had such a fantastic December, and found some new traditions that are definitely “keepers”!

First of all, in addition to our regular advent calendar, and our homemade Jesse tree, we counted down the days using Random Acts of Kindness. This is the one that we used this year:

This is now a definite family tradition in December. We weren’t able to achieve every single one of them, but we did do most of them, and they encouraged thoughtful conversation throughout the month and provided lots of fun to us all.

One of the best parts that came of our acts of kindness was befriending Dorothy. Dorothy worked ringing the bell for the Salvation Army in front of our local Walgreens. Dorothy rang that bell 9 hours a day, 6 days a week in the weeks before Christmas. I’m guessing she wasn’t doing it for fun.

Anyway, we decided to make frequent visits to Dorothy. We brought her dinner, water, and gave her a needed break for her aching hands. And we had a lot of fun.

This felt like Christmas.

To be continued…