A Very Merry Christmas

Today's gift is a Very Merry Christmas.

Happy Birthday Jesus!  What a day to celebrate!

Merry Christmas to all of you!

Today was the first Christmas in at least three Christmases where my daughter with Rett Syndrome did not get upset on Christmas morning!  This right here is a gift!!!

Every Christmas our kids get up SO early....wait what am I saying this is every morning!  Of course when they get up they want to run downstairs and see what Santa brought them....what kid wouldn't want to do this???  In the past, our oldest has not been awake when her siblings are ready to go downstairs, so we wake her slowly as we do not want to go down without her.  In doing so, somewhere between opening stocking stuffers and breakfast she gets upset, which makes us all upset, especially on Christmas.

This year I told the kids, no matter what time they come into our room we were not going downstairs until their sister was awake.  And they completely understood why without me having to say a word.  They wanted their sister to be happy on this special day!  I also mentioned how her waking pattern has been early, so they probably didn't have anything to worry about.

And I was correct!

I heard my youngest two around 5:30am and at 5:50 my oldest walked into our room.  However, the other two didn't figure out she was awake until 6:45 so we got a little extra shut eye!!!

Seeing my children's expressions when they see what Santa has left for them warms my heart.  A child on Christmas morning is one of the sweetest moments to remember!

And this Christmas morning, December 25th, 2012, it is definitely one to remember as our daughter did not get unhappy and was all smiles!!!!!  Her siblings were praising her all morning as this was special to them too!

The whole day was wonderful....kids opening presents, spending time with family, eating good food, playing with our new dog, face-timing family who could not be with us and every little moment in between.   Without a doubt, this was one of the best Christmases for me personally in a long time!  And I think it was one of the better ones for my daughter too....I could just tell by the sparkle in her eye!

Here are some quotes for today...

May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace, the gladness of Christmas give you hope and the warmth of Christmas grant you love- Author Unknown

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other- Burton Hills

The magic of Christmas is not in the presents, but in His presence