Epiphany~ The Kings have come to worship Him

I just realized as I was contemplating the taking down of our Christmas decorations that I had forgotten to show you the wooden nativity that I had made for the little ones to play with. I posted a preview when I had cut everything out and sanded it back in September, here. I did decide to both wood burn the details and paint them with a nice watercolor wash after all.

Claire and Emmett both really enjoyed playing with the little wooden figures. We have several beautiful picture books depicting the story of the birth of Jesus. I was asked to read one or several of them almost daily over the past month or two. After  we read the story they would climb down from the sofa and go over to the little table where we had the nativity figures and the would play with them telling each other the story and acting out the parts with the wooden dolls. Claire did request that I make a "bad king" (Herod) for her to use next year. :-) Ours will be the only nativity scene I've ever seen complete with a king Herod!

The stable didn't get made for them this Christmas, I had great intentions, but like so many other things this fall and winter I realized that I simply couldn't do it. I have really enjoyed this Christmas season so much more because of that. It didn't feel like laziness, it felt good and relaxed, like I was keeping my priorities straight and not trying to "do it all". Instead of driving myself mad trying to get everything finished and have all handmade gifts for each of my children, and baking cookies for all of our friends and neighbors, and hosting a party for our homeschool group; I chose to cuddle with my kids and breathe in that sweet new baby smell. We played games and read stories, sang Christmas carols, and watched a few Christmas specials on TV.  I made exactly one batch of homemade cookies and that was it. And you know, my children didn't seem to mind one little bit. There was pretty much zero pinterest worth crafting for or with kids happening, and the meals were (mostly) wholesome and yummy and humble, nothing fancy and time consuming was attempted. And the house, it was not spotless! And I completely enjoyed it all! I rested and recovered and just was "there".

It has truly been a wonderful Christmas season. On Christmas morning my sweet Claire woke up to find her stocking filled and a beautiful present for her under the tree. She was so excited! After about half an hour I mentioned to her that we needed to get out of our pajamas because we were going to Grandma and Grandpa's house to spend Christmas there. She immediately ran to Emmett and told him "Emmett we have to get dressed, we're going to have a birthday party for Jesus with Grandma!" ♥ She had no expectations of anything for herself, she was just happy because we were celebrating Jesus' birthday. My sweet girl, she melts my heart!