A Shewmaker Christmas

There is no other time of the year that ignites my childlike wonder more than Christmas.  As a child, Christmas was always about presents, goodies and Santa Claus. The countdown to December 25th was tortuous and waking up Christmas morning was glorious.  As an adult my joy during the Christmas season has exponentially increased for many reasons. 1) I cherish the time spent with family and loved ones 2) I LOVE all Christmas related services and events hosted by our church 3) Christmas dinner is yummy 4) I recognize the awesome event that happened two thousand years ago and what the birth of our Savior truly means 5) I get to share the happiness of Christmas with my children, they love the presents but are learning to appreciate the true meaning of why we celebrate Christmas.

The kick off of the Christmas season, in our family, is not the day after Thanksgiving or the first day of December.  Our celebrating begins the night we attend St. Peters' carol singing and tree trimming service.  During the first week of December we take the boys and our niece Aryanna to church for an evening of traditional Christmal carol singing while the kids help decorate the church's giant Christmas tree.  The turnout is always great.  30 or so kids, ranging from crawlers to teenagers swarm the Christmas tree hanging Christian symbol ornaments. It's a wonderful sight to behold.  You see dads lifting little ones up to reach the taller spaces, clusters of ornaments in one spot while the next spot on the tree is completely bare and the most precarious sight is the 12 foot ladder and the man on top (my husband this year) reaching over to place the tree topper.  After an hour the magnificent tree is decorated, over a dozen carols have been sung and cookies and hot cocoa shared.  Let the holiday begin.

Clam chowder defines Christmas Eve for me.  After Christmas Eve service and our rotation in the nursery we always head over to grandma's and have clam chowder, I have come to expect over the past seven years.  2010 offered a surprise though, bbq'd Korean short ribs, of course that sounds like Christmas! After my short adjustment period I put the craving for clam chowder aside and enjoyed the rather delicious ribs.  We spent some time lounging around grandma's, enjoying the company of our family.  As the night was progressing I could see the kids getting tired and impatient because they wanted to open the traditional Christmas Eve present, we finally gave in.  The boys opened their presents and we headed home for a good night's rest.

Christmas morning had finally arrived.  Just like last year, Dominick was up with his stocking in hand bright and early.  Simon had no desire to wake up but since we had presents to open at home and a house full of people waiting for us at grandma's we had to get the show on the road.  Dominick enjoyed opening presents, why wouldn't he?  Nick and I enjoyed watching him.  Simon had minimal interest and seemed a little confused about the whole spectacle.

Cinnamon rolls, family and presents awaited us at grandma's.

After presents and breakfast we headed off to church and then back to grandma's for a lovely Christmas dinner.  It was a wonderful day as we celebrated the birth of our Savior Jesus Chris.