Christmas Time Has Come.... and Gone

I have learned something important this Christmas.
My children are spoiled.

As we wrapped the final presents and stacked them by the tree, we soon realized that the presents would be taller than the tree itself. Ridiculous.

In our defense, there are eight of us in one house and the tree contained presents from our Michigan Mom as well as a few other people. But still... rotten, to the core. That was the Gaffner/Biggs Christmas revelation.

Of course all those presents were destroyed in a matter of approximately 35 minutes and the living room soon looked like this...

I was sort of emotional this Christmas and I am pretty sure that I teared up a few times on Christmas Eve. My children, though, spoiled thoroughly understand the meaning of Christmas. After family dinner following the Eve Worship Service, our crew came home to make sugar cookies for Santa. But my favorite part of the night is always the reading of the Christmas story. We talked about what happened and we thanked Jesus for coming to save us as a baby. It was a beautiful reminder that even though by 9:30am on Christmas morning my living room would be demolished, that my children knew the heart of it all. They know that underneath the Christmas festivities and the messy living room floor, that the true meaning of the reason that our house celebrates all rests in the manger with the birth of a precious baby Savior.

I love watching my babies love Jesus.

I also love watching my babies smile and squeal in joy.
Christmas is absolutely the most wonderful time of the year.
And though I am sad that it is now gone, I look forward to next year when we celebrate with our extra family member. He or she does not know what awaits! But I know that this baby will be spoiled rotten and blessed beyond measure, because this mommy most certainly is. :)