Christmas Joy

I told my husband yesterday that I feel sorry for older folks who celebrate Christmas morning alone. There is just so much joy, love and excitement in our family that day. Luckily, by the time our kids are raised, we should have plenty of grandkids to celebrate with.

One thing that happens with each new baby in a family is that the relationships grow exponentially. With one child in a family, there's three relationships, the one between the parents and the one between each parent and the child. Add another child, and you have six, adding the one between each parent and the new child plus the one between the two children. With three children, you have ten relationships. With seven children, you have thirty-six relationships going on! (Trust me on this; I had to graph it out to count it. When our baby is born, there will be forty-five!)

And Christmas morning, at least at our house, is all about relationships. The joy of giving and receiving is made more exquisite by watching each of these relationships and realizing how strong and loving they are. Each of our children is so blessed to have a huge number of people thinking of them, knowing them for who they are, and rooting for them. Lillian and Joey had both purchased presents for each member of our family, not just the one Secret Buddy they were assigned. Watching their faces as their sibling opened one of their carefully-chosen treasures was priceless. Michael had cut and pasted large sheets of paper into cut-out guys he'd colored, one for each of us. At any given moment during our present-opening, the receiver was thrilled and the giver even happier. Eliza loved the stick horse Allison had found for her, after searching the entire toy store for just the right gift. Michael loved the joke book Sarah gave him, saying, "Thanks! I'm not very good at jokes and now I will be." DH loved the photobook Lillian made for him of their trip to Chicago in April, and Lillian loved that Joey got her the new Mysterious Benedict Society book. And I sat back and tried not to be too sappy, so happy to be part of it all, to be the mother in this special family. There are days when I simply look at my kids and think, "I am so blessed," and then there are days when I just want to cry with joy.

Of course, with all those relationships going on, there's plenty of noise and excitement. Here's just a taste, of the kids right after seeing all their Santa gifts, before our yummy breakfast and the opening of all the other gifts (notice all the noise! Whoville has nothing on us):



I love my life.

Comments

Gin said…
you are blessed!
Rachel said…
I loved Christmas with our kids this year too. We have our kids make presents for each other if they choose and it's fun to watch that. Plus, our kids actually were grateful this year:) It was a nice feeling in the house. I have to say that Christmas this year has been a lesson in learning to love each other and it was a wonderful day.
Tiffany Wacaser said…
Exponential relationships, indeed! It's so true and is a perfect retort to those who claim that children in large families are neglected.

I loved your description of your family's Christmas.
Deserie said…
You have a great family and lot's of fun relationships to be thankful for. You can defenetly see the love they have for each other, in church and through the pictures. I'm glad you all had a Merry Christmas!