Christmas Day

Christmas Day in our home began at 7:00am with the usual "Mom! Dad! We are awake!  Wake-up! Mom! DAAAADDD!"  The blessing in this is hearing their voices, all six of them, calling to us.....AND they all agreed for the first time in Drafts Christmas history on a 7:00am wake-up time.  Usually they want to wake up at 6:00 or earlier....thankfully, Chapman likes to sleep late so convincing her to sleep until 7 wasn't hard even on Christmas.  So, we jumped up, made sure Santa had visited and had left the scene, and the children all came running into the living room.  Lots of bright eyes, and surprised faces!  Christmas Day is always spent eating, unwrapping a gift, eating more and relaxing, unwrapping a gift, resting, movie watching, unwrapping a gift and eating more!  It starts early and ends late.  Highlights this year included Chapman's Baby Alive that Ryan was "allowed" to help diaper - ha!, Maryn's Ipod - total surprise that she had not asked for and she was elated, Maddox's moped - her dream is to own a motorcycle one day much to my dismay, MK's monogrammed Yeti - she has asked for this gift for two years and it has been a tricky one for me to find, P's cross necklace - again, a surprise that he had not asked for and was so excited to receive, C's air pods because sometimes you accidentally run over yours and need a new pair - bless!, Ryan's coffee pot - he is a simple man, one that doesn't need anything fancy thankfully....but, he has been using our coffee pot we received as a wedding gift from my parents 23 years ago - it has served him well but it was time! and I received a surprise kayak....totally not on my radar but will be fun for all of us. Loved our time together, loved seeing the many reactions to gifts asked for and the surprises too!  My biggest gift was having them all under one roof and celebrating the birth of Jesus together.  My family is and always will be my biggest blessing in life.  

Christmas

Despite all Covid attempts to keep our family away during the Christmas season, we trudged forward and made it work!  We were able to celebrate with my parents, my brother and his family, my cousin, Drew, and her family, and my sister (and nephew Jay) surprised us all with a visit too!  We opened all the windows, added heaters to the porch for outside dining, wore masks inside when we weren't taking pictures, and it all worked.  Thankfully.  

My mom loves to do stockings each year for the children and the children love this tradition as well.  This year the highlight for my two littles - flashlights!  Mom always provides us with the most useful gifts that we wouldn't always think to purchase for ourselves.  

Our Christmas "Adam" usually includes a movie at the theatre and secret sibling purchases at Five Below.  This year looked different (2020=all things different but same).

This year we dined outdoors at McCalisters Deli, took some surprises to a few families, and then finished our evening worshipping with our church family in a local park.  The service was beautiful.  We have only been to church once since this all began 9 months ago.  

Christmas Eve....we had the best morning together getting our traditional pedicures (MK gets a manicure due to her dislike for all things feet).  I hope to always hear Chapman's giggle as they scrubbed her little feet.  This was her first official pedicure and she is now in love and asks to go back almost daily to "the scrubbing place"! 

We also had the opportunity to go Christmas caroling.  A friend gathered a group together and we all met at a local nursing home.  The group sang for a 98 year old man just outside of his window.  The man's daughter was so excited to have us and we were thankful for this opportunity.  I love elderly people.  I pray my children see my love for them and always know their worth.  Yes, they can be slow to move but the knowledge they have to share is amazing.....and the fact that they can say whatever comes to mind and get away with it is awesome too! Well, mostly, lol.

Following our fun Christmas Eve outings, we came home ready for the secret sibling gift exchange, the reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas, the unwrapping of pjs and books from Gran and Pop, the prepping of the loft as all six children spend this night together each year in the loft, and then finally off to bed!  Oh, and we did put out cookies, milk and reindeer food too.