(Insert Clever Christmas Title Here)

As is usually the case, Christmas this year managed to sneak up on me, make a mess in my house, and then creep stealthily away again. I have come to expect nothing less. 

Erma Bombeck has said, "There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child.” Take away the wonder of Santa Claus and add the burden of having to figure out how to pay for all of the presents, and I can see how true that quote can be. Then again, there is absolutely something to be said for making wonderful memories for your adorable children and seeing the magic of Christmas through their eyes, especially when they are small.

This year we tried especially hard to focus on the real reason we celebrate Christmas and make sure to include a spiritual aspect in all of our celebrating. Thanks to a "24 Days of Christmas" book replete with "true meaning of Christmas" stories that my sister let us borrow, we were definitely able to do better in that department than we have in years past, which made for a much more peaceful and enjoyable home throughout the month. (When we remembered and had time to read a story, that is; all told, it was probably more like "10 or 11 Days of Christmas," but hey, that's still something.)

Though we (er...I) downplay Santa a bit, the girls still get stockings and a gift from him. A "guitar" (which is really a ukelele) for Alexa and tablets for the older girls. After the tablets, nothing else really mattered on Christmas...I'm pretty sure we didn't even see the girls for most of the day. Poor Lexa. We really thought she wasn't old enough to have one yet, but a couple days later she lamented, "I should have asked Santa for a tablet, too!" so we might have to rethink that for her birthday next month.

Here are some of the highlights:

The candy trail down to the presents is still a hit!

Santa's elf scored these babies after Christmas last year. Ten points for planning ahead!

So cute and happy, this one.

Julia reading Santa's letter and deciding whether to not to accept his claim that 

 he couldn't bring her a machete because it doesn't fall under the "toy category"

Stuffed animals continue to be Julia's drug of choice

The fab tabs. It's all they needed for Christmas, really.

Oh, how I heart Target

Spencer mostly just wanted to eat wrapping paper and scrunch up his face at the camera.

Julia wanted this food set SO bad. And then she played with it 

for about two minutes and went back to her tablet. 

I never knew Play-doh could be so exciting!

Savanna made me this purse for Christmas, and both of the girls gave us a  

gift bag full of coupons with things like "free going out of the house day," 

"free craft day," "free candy,"and "free mommy and daddy talking time."

 (I'm the most excited about that last one!)

And now, with all of our after-Christmas finds safely stowed away for next year, it's on to the next holiday! Hope your Christmas was magical.