Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus. It has been a great and fun holiday season for Eli and Tatum. We got to visit Santa three times. Two times Eli asked for some airplanes and a puppy and Tatum cried. The third time both kids did great. Maybe because Santa seemed a little familiar, thanks Uncle Michael.
With all the Christmas and Santa excitement we tried to sprinkle in the true meaning of Christmas for Eli. The twelve nights before Christmas we did family devotions that taught us 12 different names for Jesus. Like; Savior, Light of the World, and Living Water to name a few. The devotions were well received and Eli asked to do them each night. On Christmas Eve day Mommy and Eli baked a birthday cake for Jesus and on Christmas night we had a party for Him. It's hard to tell if any of the lessons hit home, but my hope is it planted a seed in his heart. To be fair, Eli didn't really get the whole Santa thing either. On Christmas morning he walked right past the tree with presents, some unwrapped. We had to ask him if Santa came last night. I'm sure next year will be a different story.
Tatum didn't get into the presents, unless you count banging on all the boxes like they were drums. She thought that was fun. She got a new Christmas dress and looked very pretty all dressed up in her tights and shoes. The green dress really showed off her red hair (while she had her helmet off).
Santa came to visit all the cousins Christmas morning at Aunt Dee Dee's house. They were all excited to see him and thank him for the presents he left the night before. When it was time for Santa to leave the cousins looked out the back window into the woods because someone saw Santa's sleigh and reindeer outside (clever distraction for them so they didn't watch Santa come back in to change clothes). It was really sweet to see them excited and looking for the reindeer.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
