scenes from christmas day 2 0 1 5

christmas was so wonderful, but honestly i'm not sure i remember a time when it ever wasn't. this year was especially sweet because our kiddos were excited for it along with us. they are seriously at the perfect age for fun things like christmas morning + tearing through gift wrap. they woke us up at 6 am... we were super surprised, as they are not usually super early risers, but the minute abel's eyes even peeped open, he said it's morning time, we get to open our presents now?! it only added THAT much more magic :) reminded me of when i was a little girl + we would always wake our parents up at the crack of dawn when santa had come. santa did NOT come to our house as we had thought he would ha! abel had firm orders in the months leading up to christmas that santa was not welcome here, and he better not come down our "chim"... so, we didn't push that + everyone was perfectly happy. maybe next year! both our kiddos got a few sweet little gifts from us that we thought they'd enjoy, and abel made sure to tell us that "Jesus came to save the world, and he was tiny..." it's been the sweetest thing to hear this season, and also a little comical. He did in fact come to save the world, and He was in fact tiny when He got here, Abel really clung that that little "tiny" bit of information + always felt it was important to disclose... aside from being adorable, it also really hit home for me this year. i don't know if it's because i have children now or what (because obviously i've had them for a couple years now) but envisioning Jesus as a baby, and not as the miracle working man i usually think of, really sparked something in me this year. God didn't send us an immediate savior, He didn't send us a quick fix... like most good things, it took time. He sent us an infant, similar to yours or mine... "He did not arrive as a warrior, a king or a hero... God's presence arrived gentle and small, like a whisper." that felt really special to me + was refreshing in this season.