Whenever I hear people say they're relieved Christmas is over, I always think to myself that they just have the wrong attitude, and aren't focused on the true meaning. Well, that judgmental attitude sure came back to bite me this year, because I was TREMENDOUSLY relieved when Christmas was over. Jeremy's employer was kind enough to lay him off at the beginning of the month, right before Christmas. Even though they give a generous severance package, it still made for a very stressful Christmas. I was disappointed in the gifts we had gotten our children. I like to really spoil them at Christmas time, and this is the first year I haven't really gotten to do that as much as I'd like. They were so cute, though, about making sure we knew how much they loved everything they got. They made me feel a lot better about the situation. Ironically, the favorite present by all of them costed $5. It was a gift card for a one month membership on Club Penguin. They've been on the computer nonstop since Christmas.

My attitude was also boosted when one night our doorbell rang at nearly 11:00 at night, and we found a huge pile of groceries and a Walmart gift card on our porch, and then when two days before Christmas a couple in our ward brought us our neighborhood gift, which was a bottle of Sprite, and they also had a big bag of different meats for us, and then the wife snuck a significant amount of cash into my hand. I will always remember these examples of Christ-like love, and how it helped remind me that Heavenly Father hasn't forgotten about us and uses his angels to help us remember how much he loves us.

We had a super fun Christmas Eve party at our house with the Steffensens, Giff and Shirelle, Denny, and Grandpa Greg and Stephanie. Oh, and of course Geddy:

The evening started with (of course) lots of good food, and Grandpa brought his gifts for the children to open that night. It was pretty funny, because he had put all of the gifts in this gigantic bag, as tall as he was, so it was almost as good as seeing Santa Claus when he came in with that big bag hung on his shoulder. Before he handed the kids their gifts, he talked to them about what Christmas means. It's kind of embarrassing that my kids don't know quite as much as they should, because that's nothing but a reflection on me and the efforts I make, which are obviously going to improve for 2010. This is how interested the kids were for the spiritual portion of the evening:

I'm glad he does it, though. I think Christmas feel so much more special when we focus more on the Savior than all the other "exciting" aspects. I hope I can do better on that next Christmas, as well as all year round.

After everyone left the kids opened their Christmas Eve jammies:

I'm so grateful for my children. I'm sure they would be shocked to hear that (especially after today when I spent all morning acting like the meanest drill sergeant you've ever seen trying to get them to clean the house), but I love them so much and am grateful every day that I have them.