An unforgettable Christmas

Yes, Christmas 2011 was a day we will not forget for a long time.  The flu hit our family strong and hard, and right in the midst of gift-giving, we were taking breaks to take care of weak, vomiting children.  Icky, I know.  I don't even like typing it.  Momma was sick too, so our hero Daddy bravely fought this battle alone.  So do you just postpone Christmas until everyone gets well?  Nope.  Not at all.  Even through their foggy sense of reality, these kids knew this was THE day to find out what was hiding behind all of that pretty wrapping paper.  

{Below} Notice poor Nate lying on the couch...  I can pretty much tell you for sure that Daddy was helping a poor, sick Brianna in the bathroom at this moment.  Ugh!

 {Below}  Everyone is back and ready to get started...

 {Below} Hubby's traditional reading of Luke 2 about God's gift, His Son, is the way we kick off "gift time."

{Below}  Each year, a dear supporting church sends a Christmas box months in advance.  The gifts inside are already wrapped and labeled and have been chosen specifically from a wish list we are asked to write out.

 {Below} Once again, our supporting church has outdone themselves!

{Below} Each person in our family received two gifts in our Christmas box... These are the second gifts.  Once again, Brianna received some more furniture to go in her Fisher Price Loving Family doll house.  I'm pretty convinced that Brianna's doll house has more modern conveniences than I have in my real house!

{Below} The next half of these pictures are of our gifts to each other.  Don't you just love to see what other people got?  I do!  We told our children that this year they would each get a "big" gift from Daddy and Mommy in addition to their stockings full of "little gifts."  We really splurged on Micah's "big" gift as you can see here...

 {Below}  And, true to baby fashion, he likes the wrapping more than the gift itself!

{Below}  Brianna recently outgrew her favorite dress of all time... a dress that had a matching doll dress.  For Christmas, we had a seamstress in our church make her a new set, made out of red curdoroy.  This was her "big" gift.

{Below}  Nate's "big" gift was a new chair for school!  Even as sick as he was, he could not contain a big smile at his excitement!

{Below}  And Davey got one too!  (Thank you, Mimi, for helping us buy these chairs... they were actually pretty much from YOU.)

{Below} We obviously had a chair theme going this year, because this was my gift from hubby... a new chair for my desk!  Yes, we definitely had a lack of seating in our house and were constantly lugging chairs all over the house for school, meals, and office time.  Problem solved now!  (And another big thank you to Bro. Larry and Mrs. Vicki for the Christmas money you sent that helped us get this beautiful chair.  I love it!)

{Below}  My gift to hubby: a couple of books and the DVD Gifted Hands.  David read the book Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story as a young boy and has always admired this man who grew up in a single-parent home and went on to become the first surgeon to successfully separate Siamese twins.  

 {Below} Stocking time!

{Below}  "Kinder Eggs" are a popular treat on our side of the world that our kids love.  They are hollow chocolate eggs (the size of a real egg) with a surprise plastic egg inside that opens to reveal a small toy.  We found these jumbo-sized ones made especially for the holidays, and our kids were thrilled to see how huge they are!

 {Below} The after-the-gift-opening mess, with each child busy with their new, fun surprises

Wow!  We have so much to be thankful for!  We spent Christmas 2010 in America since our Micah was nearly ready to be born then.  Two years ago, we were home and the backdrop to our Christmas tree in our living room was gray concrete slabs and sheet rock.  We have come a long way since that time!

When your whole family is sick like we were the week of Christmas, let me tell ya...

there's no place like HOME!