Merry Christmas!

I realize as I get ready to write this "Merry Christmas" post that there's a lot of catching up to do... and I'll save that for another post or I'll never write one in the first place.  Here, and now, I'm simply going to write a little about our Christmas time this year.

 

We've had a wonderful family Christmas in Olomouc this year.  It was, of course, hard not to be with our family in the U.S., but it was as good as it gets here.  The few days leading up to Christmas were filled with some relaxation, some movies, walks in the 50F sunshine, kicking balls outside, making Christmas crafts, having friends over, doing lots of shopping and wrapping, managing a date with Josh while the kids spent the night with Madison (and time with Conor, Alyssa, and Robert), and making a ton of traditional holiday foods and sweets.  It felt very special this year and most importantly, intentional about the time together, time with friends, and time reflecting on Jesus and his birth, life, and sacrifice for us.  We also had some wonderful Christmas programs at work and they went very well.  I am thankful for it all and for my home and family to spend it with.  God has greatly blessed me and graced me.

The kids did great Christmas morning and started it off by sleeping to their usual 8am.  I know, we're super blessed in this way as parents. :)  We then exchanged gifts together and had a lot of fun doing so.  Jakub was much more aware and eager than Sofia, so he helped her with hers as well.  One of his favorite gifts was a new hot-wheels car, of course!  And we've been playing a lot of snakes and ladders!  He also really loved a Lego set a friend gave him and spent most of 2 days working on it until it was complete.  Sofia got a small kitchen supplies set for cooking with that she really liked (Jake picked it out) and then a new Barney doll (her favorite character to watch and sing with) and a new stroller to push her baby in.  The stroller now pushes Barney, though.

And at this moment I must take the time to point out, before I forget, that Sofia loves Barney so much that anything with the color purple must be called "Barney purple" and anything green is "Baby Bop green."  Yellow is occasionally "B.J. yellow." So far it's more sweet than annoying, and mostly I just love that she knows so many colors on her own and wants to point them out.  She also knows pink, orange, brown, black, white, blue, and red.

The kids also got some new books they love to read, and I am so happy and proud that they will read with me any time I offer.  I love books!  Right now we're reading Curious George, Berenstein Bears, and some Classics like Goodnight Moon, Harold and the Purple Crayon, and Leo the Late Bloomer.

Ok, off to bed.  More Christmas, New Years, and catching up to come soon I hope.

Oh, and one last thing- one of my favorite images in my head from Christmas.  I made a traditional dinner and set the table very nicely with our wedding dishes, candles, a Christmas arrangement, etc.  And for dinner Jakub prayed very nicely and longer than normal, which is just always touching... to hear your child pray.  Then, during one moment while eating dinner, we were all kind of quiet and I noticed Sofia was mumbling to my right, so I turn to look at her and she has her head bowed and hands intertwined and she was praying.  When we caught her she looked up and smiled, then laughed, and went about eating.  It was awesome.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you and your families!  God bless you each day!!