Christmas without stockings

During our first married Christmas together I put most of the work in to making it "magical".  I was Santa's helper with stocking stuffers and I helped ensure Santa knew what present to put under our Christmas tree.  For some reason it really took the "magic" out of it when I was the one doing all the work for him (all you Santa helpers know what I'm talking about).

After that first year, I decided that I still wanted something magical at Christmas.  Austin and I discussed my idea and we decided that stockings would be our magical part of Christmas.  Every year since then we've started a new tradition.  We both help Santa decide what to put into each other's stockings.  We'll go to the store (at the same time) and we become Santa's ninja elves (I say ninja, because we sneak around the store separately and if we ever bump into each other while "planning" the stocking stuffers, we hide... or karate chop each other... or just run away).  This is something we always look forward to.

Austin wearing our stockings 

(2006, our 1st Christmas together), what a goof!

This Christmas (as in a week ago) we decided not to do stockings for a number of reasons.  The main one being that we were with my parents and another friend.  We didn't want to have stockings when it didn't seem likely that our parents and friend would be putting a priority on it.  So we wrote Santa and asked him to postpone them till next year.  At first I thought this might bother me but it didn't.  I was completely content without a "magical" Christmas.  Looking back on it now, I think I realized the reason why.

The Saturday before Christmas my family (my parents, 6 kids and their kids) went to the local nursing home (not to be confused with the Humane Society... kids are so funny!) and did a nativity pageant.  We had all the grandkids dressed in Bethlehem attire and the adults stood on the side.  As my brother narrated the scene the kids came out on cue, and at the right times, we all sang Christmas songs.  After the pageant was over, some of the kids and adults walked around and wished all the elderly Merry Christmas, shaking hands with many of them.  It was sweet to me to sing and participate with my family in this manner.  There is an amazing feeling that comes when singing praises to our Lord with all my loved ones around.  It is even more amazing when we can share that joy with others.

Austin and I as "stand ins" for the nativity, this was in 2009 

(it's a yearly tradition, just not always at the nursing home)

On Christmas Eve my mother had another great idea and it was to spread Christmas cheer throughout the town.  We packed about 30 bags of her specialty popcorn and set out on our mission.  We prayed for guidance to reach those that may need an extra smile on Christmas Eve.  We felt impressed to hand them to bell ringers at Wal-mart, policemen out in the field, and even random strangers in the Safeway's parking lot.   Along our journey we noticed a car on the side of the road.  The hood was up and the two women were walking about on cell phones, looking distressed.  We looked at each other and knew we had to help.  Around we went and long story short, jumped their car and they were able to head back to work.  Another sweet moment was when my mom handed a bag of popcorn to a lady coming out of the post office.  The lady was noticeably touched and told my mom that she really needed that nice gesture that day.

Christmas 2009, right after Austin got out of boot camp

I feel like this Christmas has been one of the best ones that I have had in a long time.  It wasn't "magical" in the way I always wanted my stockings to be, but it was a different kind of magic that I hope to teach my children, the way that my mom has taught me.