Christmas Day

This was the best Christmas I think we've ever had, or at least it's up there somewhere in the top three. :) We went all out and bought iPod Touches for all six of the kids. They had all wanted one, even Timothy. When we had them make their wish lists this year, they all put one on the top (except for Jay, who asked for a Zune instead). They weren't really expecting one, though.

We had so much fun making it impossible for the kids to guess what they were getting. We wrapped them each differently in different sizes and shapes of packages. I wrapped a bag of lentils around one and it felt like a bag of sand. Another I packed inside a box of old books. One was in an oatmeal container, another inside a box of macaroni. Some of them made noise when shaken, others did not.

We also got them each a unique cover so they would be able to tell them apart. I put the covers in gift bags wrapped in tissue. They were so lightweight that some of the kids questioned whether there was anything in them at all!

Last night we allowed them to each unwrap one present--a pair of pajamas--but the had to wait until today to get their iPods. They were so excited and they've spent all day playing with them.

I didn't used to realize what iPods were. I thought they were just music players with a touch screen. With all the things that they can do, we didn't just give our kids music players. We gave them each a gaming system along with dozens of games, a camera, a video recorder, a TV, a flashlight, a Bible, lots of books, a phone with the ability to text, a computer, toys, musical instruments, a pedometer, an alarm clock, a calender, and I don't even know how much more! There are tons of free apps to download.

The first thing we did, though, was to set parental controls and take away the web browser. They don't really need to have Internet access all the time--we like to have adult supervision for that. But they can still access anything that has an app, like Facebook. That means we'll have to make sure they don't play on their iPods when we are having school.

We did let them take them to church but they have been strictly warned that if they are using their iPods, they'd better be using the Bible app or taking notes with it! We had a beautiful Christmas morning service, btw. We took communion with a loaf of French bread and sparkling grape juice in goblets to make it special. I know that Jesus actually would have used unleavened bread, but the French bread just looked so pretty. There were candles everywhere in the church, although we didn't light the ones in the windows because we didn't want to catch the curtains on fire.

We played Christmas carols and sang some specials. I was going to sing "Every Valley" but I've had a cold lately. After leading worship my voice wasn't strong enough to sing a difficult song like that.

I took a nap when we got home and then made a delicious pecan pie to go with our Christmas dinner. I also made a sugar-free jello dessert for Erick. He's not sticking entirely to his diet right now, but he is still watching what he eats.

I got to use every one of my Christmas presents today--a Ninja blender (to turn some pecans to dust), my toaster (because the bread for the sandwiches we had for lunch was still in the freezer), a set of Eggies (for egg salad), and a stock pot (for the sweet potatoes).

Erick hasn't had a chance to use his new Garmin GPS system yet. We haven't been anywhere yet, except for church, and we know how to get there. We've named it Judy because the female voice that tells you where to turn sounds like a Judy.

Christmas isn't entirely over for us, though--later this week we're going to visit our families. I can't wait!