Gifts of Christmas

A WII! Thanks, Mom & Dad! We are now officially off of the "lame" list.

Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Bird for the Nerf Dart Tag. It's a hit, but I'm finding ammo everywhere in my house!
Lizzie hugged this gift even before she opened it! Little did she know that it was the baby doll that she had been requesting. Thank you, Carter!

This is the other side of Lizzie we all know and love. Now, to give her credit, she had been with me at the store when I decided to purchase this gift for Emma, and she had gotten to play with it as she sat in the cart. Lizzie loved it so much, I thought it'd be a great gift for both of the girls. Lizzie had other plans. When Emma unwrapped it, Lizzie's elephant memory kicked in to high gear, and she KNEW it had to be hers. Hence, tears were shed this joyous morning. The picture was taken towards the end of the tug-o-war. Lizzie had given one last forceful tug and fallen to the floor. By the way, the toy is a Barbie cash register. I do have to say one thing about it that cracked me up. As you ring up your purchases, your credit card actually has a limit of $1000. The register tells you, "You have reached your limit. Please complete your transaction." What a great lesson to learn!

Emma really wanted a baby who laughed and cried. Santa really came through for her. Thanks, Santa!

I want to send a big "Thank you" to everyone else who contributed to our fun Christmas morning. We had a marvelous day. My greatest gift was spending time with my wonderful husband and fun kids. Another gift came a few days earlier...a gift of the true meaning of Christmas. Steve had met a man in our church who headed a non-profit organization and invited our family to help feed 1 of 90 families in the Naperville area. The Saturday before Christmas, Steve took some of the kids to the grocery store where he bought cartloads of food. He then got to take it to a warehouse for storage and organization. On December 20th, we as a family got to pull food from the shelves in this warehouse for a family of 6, choose toys for the children, have them wrapped, and then take the items to their home. My children helped walk the food and gifts in to this home and met the recipients of this good will. This home had no kitchen table and the dinner that was being prepared fit in a 6" frying pan. What a marvelous experience for us! I love that my family could be a part of this service project from the beginning to the end. I hope it affected them as much as it has me. This humbling evening set the tone for my Christmas this year, and I hope to be able to do it again next year.