Christmas morning

Christmas morning didn't quite start the way that I imagined.  I envisioned Nolan and Livi running excitedly into my room, telling me that Santa came and wanting to open presents.  Instead, Nolan calmly walked into my room to tell me he had pooped his pants.  Umm, what??  The kid hasn't had a bathroom accident since he was potty training over two years ago!  As I  began to clean him up,  I asked him more about what happened.  Apparently, the night before, when I told him that Santa can only come when the kids are sleeping, he heard "you must not leave your room under any circumstance or Santa won't bring you presents."  So, my son voluntarily pooped his pants as to avoid accidentally bumping into Santa and keep him from leaving presents.  Overall, he didn't seem too upset about it, but it did require throwing his underwear away, washing his jammies and the bathroom rug, a shower, and cleaning the bathroom.  It was not exactly what I had in mind to start our Christmas morning.

Once everything was cleaned up, it was time to light our Christmas candle.  We prayed the following prayer together:

Loving Father,

help us remember the birth of Jesus

that we may share in the song of the angels,

the gladness of the shepherds,

and the worship of the wise men.

Close the door of hate

and open the door of love all over the world.

Let kindness come with every gift 

and good desires with every greeting.

Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings,

and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.

May the Christmas morning make us happy to by Thy children,

and the Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts,

forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus' sake.

Amen

After giving thanks, it was time to open presents!  Nolan got a new tablet, a transformer, an awesome K'nex roller coaster, a Spider-Man hideout, an Iron Man costume, some new winter boots, a few books, and some legos.  Olivia opened a darling Elsa doll, some books, a singing Minnie Mouse, and an awesome Minnie Mouse battery powered four wheeler powerwheels.  Things started to head downhill at this point.  Nolan started whining and complaining about the fact that there weren't more presents.  This was not sitting well with me at all, especially with the amount of time I spent talking to him through the last several months about the meaning of the season.  But before I could really address this, Livi got on her powerwheels, started driving, and drove straight into Eric's great grandfather's heirloom table that's in our dining room and snapped the leg clean off.   I was devastated.  I needed a moment to collect myself, so I went to calm down in my room for a minute.  After I composed myself, I came back to talk to Nolan about gratitude and how each gift he received was a gift of love, specially chosen for him by someone who loves him.  But he continued to ask about getting more...and more... and then my tears came.  I felt like such a failure.  I've tried so hard to teach my kids to be gracious and to understand the meaning of Christmas, but it seemed like it was all in vain.  I realize now that perhaps my expectations were out of line for a five year old - I'm guessing the poopy start to the day and the broken family heirloom had something to do with my feelings about everything, but I just felt bad.

Again, I took a little break and when I came back, I saw Nolan playing with our wooden Nativity set.  I asked him to tell me the Christmas story.  I recorded it, and this is the gist of what he said:

N: "Once upon a time....Mary and Joseph were looking for a place to sleep.  And they didn't have anywhere to sleep.  And a man...let them stay in a barn.  And when they went in the barn, Baby Jesus was born!  And then the shepherds...the angel came to tell the shepherds that Baby Jesus was born and they went to the barn.  And then the three kings saw this glowing star and the kings had a long, long walk.  They saw this star on their long, long walk that led to the barn."

N: "Where do I put the angel?"

Me: "You can put her right there with everybody else."

N: "But what if Joseph gets scared of the angel's wings?"

Me: "What does the angel always say when the angel comes?"

N: "Don't be scared."

Me: "That's right, don't be afraid."

N: "I said don't be scared."

I realized in that moment, that even thought his understanding of gratitude wasn't perfected at five years old (understandably so), I had taught him the story of Christ's birth.  He knew enough about the story that he could retell it to me in a beautiful and simple way  - and in that, he has already learned about the true joy of Christmas.  He understood that Jesus is a gift of love to us from God.  I was so grateful for that little redeeming moment that helped change the tone of the day from frustration to peace.  And isn't that true meaning of Christmas?  God sent us the Christmas gifts of hope, love, joy, and peace through the gift of his Son to drive out our pain, frustration, and sorrow.  Happy Birthday, Jesus!