Christmas '08

Merry Christmas from the Skinners!

John was on call this year for Christmas which meant we weren't able to travel and were able to spend Christmas at home. We visited Kim's family the weekend prior and celebrated Christmas with them at that time. We were fortunate that John didn't get called into work and we were able to spend the entire day together as a family. John's parents came for a visit on Christmas Day and stayed until Saturday.

As always, we tried very hard to keep the kids grounded and focused on the true meaning of Christmas.

We tried to seize all opportunities to share with them the Christmas Story and the reason why we celebrate Christmas. We sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus countless times and we thanked God in our prayers for that miraculous birth.

We also decided to participate in some of the "magic" of Christmas.

Now, my children are terrified of Santa. We've never really pushed the issue with them. They have never been forced or really even encouraged to sit in his lap. We've tried to explain to them that Santa is a very nice man who does very nice things for children and Madison even knows that it's just a regular person in a suit but that doesn't change the fact that they shrivel up and tremble in his presence. Nonetheless, as most children would, they wanted to bake cookies for him and they certainly wanted him to bring them presents. So, we baked Santa some cookies and put them out for him to have with one little disclaimer (see photos below).

Santa liked the cookies and followed his instructions very carefully and left all of the children just the right presents.

I thought I'd share a few of the kids favorite gifts. Madison is obsessed with hospitals, sick people, ambulances, doctors, nurses, etc. (Wonder why?) So, this was the perfect gift for her from her Uncle Kevin and his fiance, Raven.

Shannon is OBSESSED with football. All he asked for was a football "helmoot." Needless to say, this was the PERFECT gift for him from his NiNi and Poppaw. He's worn it every day since he got it and he had to sleep with the helmoot on Christmas night.

And, of course, at 9 mos., Julia was more interested in the boxes and the paper than any of her gifts.

We hope that you all had a very Merry and meaningful Christmas!