It's the Most Wonderful Time...

"It's the most wonderful time...

Of the year..."

I was singing as we walked through the parking lot. I saw Annika furtively glancing around to be sure no one was near. And I laughed! My little girl is old enough to be a little embarrassed of her mother. We've all been there, I guess.

Excitement is running high in the Martin household. Today marks the first day of Christmas vacation from school. We are planning Christmas menus and wrapping gifts. (Oh, and waiting to see if Amazon actually pulls through and delivers the final gift tomorrow!) We are hanging candy canes, snowflakes, and salt dough ornaments in the widows.

We were in Target this morning and a couple stopped us to ask what size slippers a 6 year old girl would wear. They were buying gifts for a little girl they read about in the newspaper whose father had been in an accident and she was going to have no gifts. Annika tried on slippers for them and we figured out which ones a little girl might love. It was sweet and heartwarming.

I know there are many people stressed by so many things this time of year. But I see these acts of kindness and I see Jesus. I know that so much of the meaning of Christmas has been lost. But I see the joy of the children as we carry out our own little traditions and I see Jesus. I love the extra time we spend as a family. I love the secrets and the planning as the children buy gifts. (We exchange names and each buy a gift for one person.) It is such a rich, meaningful time of year when you can see Jesus in all of these things!

Tomorrow night we are planning to attend a Christmas Eve service then come home to new pajamas. We will make beds in the living room and all sleep there together. The younger ones fall asleep earlier than the rest and we visit with the older ones in the dark (And yes, I do normally end up in my bed at some point during the night...). It is one of our most cherished traditions, one that the children look forward to all year.

What are your favorite Christmas traditions?  

P.S. Speaking of embarrassing, don't you pity my children that I take my big camera in to Target and take pictures of them?