All I want for Christmas...

This year was our first year celebrating Christmas just as a family. We celebrated Christmas with Blake's family and my family prior. No in-laws/family, no friends, just us on Christmas morning. We really didn't know what to do...

 It was a fun five minutes!

Knowing before hand that we would have Christmas to ourselves we said this would be a practice year. Practicing to see what traditions we wanted to keep or add additional. Christmas dinner on Christmas eve with the reenactment of Luke 2 was a must for Blake, we spent it this year with Chris and Amy and all the little cousins. Christmas morning was pretty much the same for the both of us growing up so that'll stay the same; open stockings, eat breakfast, then to the presents, opening one at a time around the circle. Breakfast being Russell Goulash, Blake's version. I want to do presents a little different. Growing up we would have a Christ centered devotional type thing Christmas eve but once I woke up Christ was not on my mind for the duration of the Christmas season. I had heard of this idea wear Santa brings you 3 gifts to remind you of Christ and the reason why we get gifts, because Christ received gifts when he was born. One of the gifts would represent Gold, one represent Myrrh, and one represent Frankincense.

Gifts of Gold. Gold was a gift fit for a king. A great symbol it was for Jesus to receive such an offering from the wise men, as he is indeed the King of kings. The gift the is received as the "gold" gift should be something that is of great importance to suggest how valuable your child is to your family. Something the child would really value.

Gifts of Frankincense. In Exodus, God specifically requests that frankincense be used as a sacred incense in His temples. The gift that is received as the "frankincense" gift should be something spiritual or along those lines. Example, scriptures, journal, church music, church clothes, etc.

Gifts of Myrrh. In ancient times, myrrh was used to scent oils, perfumes and embalming liquids. Jesus being born that He would die for us. John 19:39-40, Nicodemus anointed Jesus with myrrh as part of his burial preparation. The gift that is received as the "myrrh" gift should be something for their body.

I think this is a cool idea but we haven't decided what we should do for our family.

I'm probably making Christmas too hard. I just never want to hear my children cry or whine because they didn't get what they wanted or it wasn't exactly what they wanted. I don't want Christmas to be centered around the gifts. I want Christ to be the focal point but I do want it to be fun. 

How do you make Christmas Christ centered and fun??

On with our Christmas, Russell tradition we eat out at a Chinese restaurant. This is Blake's favorite Russell tradition and insisted that we keep it. 

We also went to the Temple Square so Elsa could see the lights.It being freezing, she still loved it!

Elsa also loved opening presents, well she loved playing with the wrapping paper and curled ribbon. She now loves playing with the toys she got. It was fun sharing this time with her and Blake.
We had a wonderful Christmas!!
Thanks everybody!! We love you!!

The article that I found that explain each of the gifts I found in a forum at Babycenter.com so you have to scroll down a bit to find it or you can also find it  here . It's called Begging for Myrrh by Trina Conner Schaetz.