Starting the 1st of December our bedtime routine with Zachary included a signing a Christmas song and reading a Christmas story. My Grandma Murray was always reading stories or poems she had written. I was lucky enough to get the copy of her purple binder with all her Christmas songs and stories in it. My cute Mom also sent a collection of Christmas stories that we read from as well.
Another tradition we have is to purchase an ornament for the tree that represents something significant from that year. Obviously this year we purchased a "Baby's First Christmas" ornament. We bought two of the same ornament so we can start Zachary's ornament collection for when he moves away from home and goes to college or starts his own family.
We had SO much fun decorating and shopping and wrapping presents. Most of all though, I love the Spirit that is in our home around Christmas time.
JC had to work Christmas Eve so Zachary and I went to a friends house for a Christmas Eve party she was throwing. In JC's family making homemade pizza for Christmas Eve dinner was tradition they had and when my friend Heidi heard that she asked if JC would share his family tradition for her Christmas Eve party. I was in charge of the dough and everyone else brought toppings. The little kids were given paper plates and got to help spread the dough for their own personal pizzas. It was a blast and SO yummy! We took pictures, read stories, watched the Christmas story video and had fun laughing and just hanging out with everyone!
Zachary and I left the party a little early so we could go pick JC up from work. As JC was walking out to the car he had his hands full of a couple toys that his co-worker had given him. We have felt so welcomed and loved here in Alaska and seeing this warmed my heart a little more.
After we got home we did Zachary's bed time routine and everyone got into their matching Christmas pajama pants that I made and JC read from the scriptures the story of the 1st Christmas day. As I sat there holding my own son I couldn't help but think of Mary and the immense love she had for her son. My love for my Savior increased all the more that night. Afterward we put Zachary to bed.
After we thought Zachary was asleep we opened the front door for Santa and he came inside to leave Christmas for Zachary. He had to assemble one last thing before he left. The noises from assembling this particular gift woke Zachary up. We finished up and got ready for bed ourselves. We were SO tired but Zachary wouldn't go back to sleep so we ended up having a family sleepover in Mom and Dad's bed with Zachary. I lied there feeling SO grateful for the happenings of the past year and for the love of friends, family, and our Savior that we had experienced many times over. I could help but fall asleep with a huge smile on my face-for THAT is what Christmas is really all about.
The next morning poor JC was having a hard time sleeping as he waited for Zachary to wake up. It was SO funny to watch. At one point he wanted to go wake him up but I asked him not to. Finally when Zachary woke up we got him changed and went directly to the living room. All month long we'd had a gate up to keep Zachary out of the tree ornaments and gifts. We brought Zachary out to the living room where JC had previously taken the gates down. We put Zachary on the floor and assumed he would go right for the tree and the gifts. We waited on the edges of our seats with excitement and waited for Zachary's response! After a few brief moments of staring and the tree and the gifts, Zachary turned the opposite direction and started crawling away. We quickly put him back in the right direction and showed him that he was now allowed to tear the paper on the gifts. He just wasn't as thrilled about things as we thought he would be. We just laughed. He was SO spoiled but Grandmas & Grandpas and cousins! After opening and exchanging gifts we cleaned up and I made breakfast. After Zachary went back to bed JC and I called and talked with our families. We spent all day just being lazy and hanging out in our pajamas. It was one of my most favorite Christmas'!!
