Favorite Christmas Moments

~ Warning Reprise - You will have to excuse me for a few days as I take a few more “Mommy Moments.” ~

There are a lot of exciting things going on in the ministry as we are beginning this new year, and I am excited to share some of that with you – in a few days. But for now, please allow me to indulge and bask in the fun and beauty of life and the precious times that I shared with my little girl during the magical holiday season.  (And my mom thanks you for plugging through the Julia posts in the middle of the ministry posts. She’s been waiting for more Christmas pictures!)

Two years old is a super fun Christmas age! I absolutely loved it! That is, I loved being with a two year old at Christmas. I don’t remember how super fun it was when I was two.  From the moment I “introduced” Julia to Christmas, she was taken. It was so very magical to her.

Here are a few of her favorite things of Christmas.

~ Little Christmas Book ~

On the way to Nairobi for Thanksgiving, I grabbed a little Christmas book and added it to her travel bag. Good thing. That was the most entertaining thing to her the whole weekend!

Julia is so keen on detail. At first, she was hyper-focused on the "mess." Yep, the snow in the corner of the page. "Santa make mess."

"While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads."

I never realized how long a little one could look at a small page of candy, or "sweeties." The "candy-candy" (aka: candy canes) were her favorite. 

She thought it was pretty cool that there were "two Santas" on the page, until she realized there were "fwee Santas!" Now, that's pretty cool, apparently!

And she never tired of waving goodbye to Santa at the end of the book. Even now, as she watches me type this, she is waving goodbye to him.

~ Christmas Trees ~

The moment she saw a Christmas tree in our house, you would have thought it was Christmas morning. She was absolutely in awe! “Christmas tree in Mama and Julia’s house!” And that was just the little tree for the baby house that I put up after she went to bed. The big Christmas tree for our house was even more awe inspiring. "Mama has big tree. Julia has yittle tree."

~ Papa’s Christmas Book ~

My dad sent her a Night Before Christmas book that has his voice recorded reading it to her. It became known as the “Papa’s Christmas Book.” She has a night-night book that Papa also reads to her. The Christmas one had the most beautiful illustrations. When she first saw it, she ran to get a Santa that we have that is made out of banana leaves and she tried to make him sit in the sleigh on the front cover of the book. She thought it was the greatest thing on earth that there was a Christmas tree in her book AND in our house! Wow! Just amazing.

"This one tree, and this one tree."

~ Advent Calendar ~

My mom bought this advent calendar for us last February at Amani ya Juu. (An AMAZING store with an amazing story of hope and help. Click an check it out -  Amani ya Juu) This is a precious advent calendar, made by African refugee women, complete with the African animals and Baby Jesus being born in a thatched roof hut. At first, Julia just wanted to find and take Mary out. After a few days, she got the hang of it and we enjoyed taking a new piece out and placing it “on the scene.”

~ Nativity Play Sets ~

Thanks again, Nana! It was so great to see the story of Jesus’ birth come alive for Julia as the season progressed. At first, they were just fun new toys with lots of cool little pieces. By Christmas, after hearing the story so many times, Juju would retell the story and bring all the “characters in play” to the manger. And they usually sang “Happy Birthday” to Jesus. She had a few different nativity sets, and we could never mix them up! You know, heaven forbid if the banana leaf people got into the Fisher Price stable! Funny girl.

~ The Twelve Days of Christmas ~

And once AGAIN…thanks, Nana! My mom was really thinking ahead and had a box of Christmas gifts wrapped, packed and ready to come to Africa in JULY! Unfortunately, the team we had hoped to send it with could only bring two crates, so I ended up bringing this one back with me in October. Since that team couldn’t bring it when they came, we had to pay the extra baggage fee on my return trip, and let me just say “WAY worth it!!!”  The joy on this little angel’s face each morning when she got to open a present was priceless! My mom had twelve gifts for her to open each day before Christmas. Julia did a good job of understanding that we only open one each day and she did not try to open them all the time. I was proud of her.

~ Cookies for Santa ~

Oh, the excitement on the night before Christmas!! She actually understood that Santa was going to come. We made cookies and talked about making them for Santa. She had seen Elf (way too many times) and knew that Santa comes down the chimney with his big bag and big boots and eats cookies. So, setting the cookies out for Santa, they just had to go in the chimney. Yes, IN the chimney, not setting outside the fireplace. And Christmas morning, I think she was more excited about seeing that Santa ate her cookies and drank her milk than she was about her new toys!

Honestly, the joy of a child at Christmas time is priceless! I was devastated to have to miss Christmas with my family. After spending Christmas in Kenya in ’08, I said I would never be here for Christmas again. Well, never say “never.” I was here. And it was okay. No, it was better than okay. I was with my baby, and it was awesome! She made every moment of being in Kenya for the holidays totally worth it!!

I can’t wait until next Christmas!! And hopefully, we will get to experience it with friends and family in America!