On Christmas Eve I went to bed wishing – but not holding out too much hope – for the entire family to sleep-in on Christmas morning (we had stayed up late at a friend’s house that evening). Sleeping-in is a rarity on most days, so I was especially thankful when my wish came true. Not that the first words out of Paul’s mouth weren’t, “Can I open my presents now?”
Poor Paul had waited long enough and so we agreed to open gifts right away. In keeping with tradition, Adam and I did not exchange gifts with each other. Before feeling bad for us you should know that earlier this year we agreed to upgrade our television as an early gift to ourselves. Through Adam’s work we purchased an offer-too-good-to-refuse HDTV. (His company bought several televisions with the intention of selling them after the annual convention season for which they were purchased.)
I mentioned in a previous post that the kids didn’t have any specific gift requests this year. They said they would be happy with anything we got them. I had a few things in mind that I knew they wanted (ie. Pokemon products for Paul, kitten items for Megan and a Mousetrap game for both). Instead of any one big item, the kids received several smaller gifts each. We broke our “three gifts per child” rule but still stayed within our budget.
Two gifts in particular were unexpected hits. Megan opened one of them on Christmas Eve, a pretty Bible (her first real one). Megan was surprised and showed the appropriate amount of interest but it was hard to tell what she was really thinking. Later on Christmas day I caught Megan sitting in bed exploring her new Bible. It has also become part of her bedtime routine.
The second unexpected gift was also Bible related. It was the Jesus Storybook Bible; a storybook Bible connecting the Old and New Testaments as one single story pointing to Jesus. I had originally planned to wrap this up but the kids were snooping and found it in my bedroom a few days before Christmas. I highly recommend this book for children ages 4-7. Paul insists that I read several chapters every night as his bedtime story. I can hardly believe that my kids are begging me to read the Bible with them. I’m not complaining!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve been meaning to get this Bible storybook, as I’ve heard rave reviews from everyone! I’m going to finally order it this week!
I have to agree with Kristen. Both kids surprised me with their sudden interest in the Bible’s. It was really fun to see them both proudly bring their Bible’s to church. Some behavior is great to see mimicked.