Our Christmas Blessing!

This Christmas was very special to our family.

We started it off by going to my mom's house for a Christmas feast. I really appreciate that my family has been considerate of the vegetarians in the family and specially prepared each dish (with the exception of the meat dishes) without chicken broth or gelatin. So the bacon was left off the broccoli salad and the potato dishes were made with vegetable broth. It was great!

Before we started opening gifts Bear came up to me wiggling his loose tooth. I could see it was about ready to come out but he wasn't going to make it happen on his own. I offered to pull it out for him and he agreed to let me. I took some floss and looped it around his tooth. Nervously, I yanked down firmly knowing that if I failed to extract the tooth with the first pull any other attempts would be refused. Luckily the tooth came right out with the first tug, looking a bit like a white lassoed marshmallow. Bear was thrilled and proudly showed off the new window in his smile.

Ever try to get six children to sit for a picture? Well...

Five out of six ain't bad.  Right to left: Bear, Midge, Jules, Nay, Boo, and Nee-Nee.
Then it was time to open presents and all heck usually breaks loose as the gift wrap goes flying and the kids get amped up on new toys.

Midge didn't know what to do with the wrapping paper so Stephen helped him.

On the way home Nee-Nee and I had a talk about Jesus and the meaning of Christmas.  She told me that she was ready to accept Jesus into her heart. For those won't aren't familiar with Christianity, this is a major step in our faith affirming that we believe we have salvation through Jesus and his death. So last night she prayed for Jesus to come into her heart and be her savior.  Bear also prayed, but I don't know if he fully understands it yet.

It was truly the best Christmas ever!