We were missing family and friends on Christmas this year but we enjoyed a great family time followed by a nice meal with some new friends we have made here in Bern! Jackson woke up at a ghastly 4:54 AM and noticed that Santa had come. Seth convinced him that Santa might not have finished his last round and could potentially bring more. It was a Christmas miracle that Jackson fell back asleep until about 7 AM. Both boys had tons of fun opening gifts. It was our first yr to have both boys into the opening of gifts.

Disclaimer: I took Jackson  to the mall a couple of weeks ago and he picked out the Superman underwear for Seth. He was set on getting them. When Seth opened them he asked if he could borrow them. There was no joke involved in the gift from Jackson. Why wouldn’t daddy want Superman underwear?!

Our dinner party was nice a relaxed. We had a fancy table and used china because it was fun and really because when we got married I convinced Seth that we needed china. For appetizers we had antipasto, shrimp cocktail and a hot bacon blue cheese dip. For the main meal we had ham, corn casserole, my mom’s homemade rolls, a green salad with gargonzola, craisins, pecans and apples with a cider vinagrette and a rice dish that our friend brought. For dessert one of our friends brought a rum cake! Delicious food! Which brings me to the fact that Santa brought me just what I was wanting this yr! A Wii fit! After all of this yummy food the Wii fit is going to be in for it! I had no idea Seth was getting it so it was a fun surprise!

Seth’s parents arrive on Tues so we are switching gears to get the house back in shape!

This yr I decided that it would be okay for Jackson to touch the nativity scene and “play” with it. The donkey kept his tail intact about 5 mins. He apparently “jumped” off the table or something like that. No worries. I said he could touch it and I feel like it is good for him to learn through is play. We can always use superglue. After the donkey lost his tail I decided to put the nativity on an Ikea tray and told Jackson he could play with it as long as everyone stayed on the tray. (this has been remotely successful, unless again people decide to jump off the tray, off the table, etc). Mary has lost her halo-ish thing but no other major casualties.

Throughout the season Jackson has taken liberty to move around the figurines. I have started taking pictures because it is really quite intriguing. He typically has a story to go along with each scene.

These are only a few of the scenes we have seen over the past few weeks. Sometimes the Kings are waiting for a train, sometimes they are all getting rest while it appears baby Jesus is out in the cold.

For those of you that may be offended by Jackson playing with something so sacred to some people, be offended no more. These figurines are nothing sacred. It’s is our Savior, Jesus who is sacred to us!  We have thoroughly enjoyed watching Jackson experience glimpses of our Savior through his simple play with these figurines!

We hope that you and yours have time to behold the beauty of the birth of our Savior!

On Tuesday we had a little family celebration for the little O man! We plan on having a few friends over to do a more formal celebration when Seth’s parents are in town for a visit but we couldn’t resist celebrating on the real day too! After naps we had cupcakes and Owen got to open his gifts. Seth and I had put up a banner and balloons which were a big hit! Here are a few pictures from our family gig!

Jackson worked hard on Owen’s birthday card. He was so proud of it! He drew the whole family, (heads with arms and legs minus the bodies)

a little groggy after nap, checking out his balloons

Owen loved the birthday boy and excitedly pulled out rubber duckies for the bath!

Sweet big brother!

He DEVOURED his cupcake! So much for being a picky eater that doesn’t want to try new things. He LOVED it!

Love you, Owen! Happy Birthday! We are so glad you are in our family!

“The Napping House”?..you know the one where EVERYONE is sleeping. Well, I am seriously considering writing a sequel to the book only my title would be “The Napless House” where NO ONE is sleeping.

I don’t know if it is the excitement of Christmas and an approaching visit from grandparents but our kids are living in crazyville. Not that the house is in a state of craziness, just them. Maybe the current running through our transformer to feed Swiss current into our American-made tree lights is just getting to them. Maybe it’s that they aren’t getting to run around as much because of the snow, no better maybe it’s because of the excitement from the snow. Or maybe it’s that they are too warm in their fleece footy jammies or too cold in their footless pj’s.  You see where this is going. When one tries to figure out what causes small people to be disrupted you drive yourself INSANE. So, to preserve my own sanity I am embracing this obnoxious disruption and mustering up every ounce of strength to pray that my little boys go to bed early and sleep, WITHOUT a PEEP!

Tomorrow we go to the Embassy to meet Santa! Now THAT is for sure going to calm my kids down!