crowfoot's merry little christmas

one of my most favorite things are the special little traditions we have as a family.

for christmas, we usually finish up the story of the birth of Christ before anything else unfolds.

among other things, we also have a special christmas breakfast of homemade blueberry oatmeal pancakes with homemade whipped cream. it's quite tasty.

we had borrowed "how the grinch stole Christmas" from the library. we read it today. i thought about how "Christmas" still went on without the presents, without the feast, and the who's all sang their songs and still rejoiced. i really want to do that next year. store bought gifts are absolutely banned from Christmas. i think it has the potential to be a powerful lesson for the kids.

this is our printed out blog book for 2009. it is, by far, the best gift ever. ;)

as sam and i were keeping with tradition, taking our peaceful afternoon naps as the children played and snacked, and watched christmas movies - makayah came into the bedroom. she whispered in my ear, "mom, i think my makeup kit is broken. look, mom. i look like a zombie!"

isaiah and makayah had received joke books in their stockings. remember isaiah's little note? well, santa apparently wanted to grant his little heart's desire. isaiah can read. makayah, not so much. 

as we were sitting around the table eating our christmas breakfast, isaiah asked, "makayah, why couldn't the pony sing?" 

makayah replied, "um, because it's a pony."

makayah pretended to read her joke book and we were the captive audience of a string of knock-knock jokes that went like this:

makayah: "knock-knock, dad."

dad: "who's there?"

makayah: "why did the baker want to come inside?"

dad: "why-did-the-baker-want-to-come-inside WHO?"

makayah, completely oblivious to daddy's sly remark: "because he wanted to BAKE something!"

the books might be a little broken, too.

it was so hard for sam and i not to laugh about everything BUT the jokes being told. and samiyah, wanting to be part of the family, threw her own head back chuckling, finding the whole thing just as funny as any of us.

today i am grateful for:

*happy faces and giggly children

*afternoon naps

*the opportunity to teach my children the true meaning of christmas.