Christmas in the Sansom Home

This year Carl and I tried something new for Christmas.  While we both love buying presents for each other and for others, we decided to scale things back in an effort to focus on the spiritual side of things.  At first, the switch was a bit difficult for me; it almost didn't seem like Christmas without the usual rush to buy presents for loved ones and the accompanying flurry of activities.  The month started to slip almost without notice and Christmas spirit was certainly a little thin on the ground so Carl and I decided to re-evaluate our approach to simplifying Christmas. 

As we talked things over, we decided that while we had mostly done away with a lot distractions, we forgot to fill that space with something better.  We went to lds.org and found an advent calendar that listed a scripture to read each day along with an activity.  Many of the activities in the calendar were service oriented and gave us the opportunity to reach outside of ourselves and spread a little love.  As we read the suggested scriptures and completed the activities, I felt a change in our home.  There was more Christmas spirit, there was also a lot more love and kindness in the air. 

As Christmas day drew closer, we also decided that is was high time we established our own family traditions.  We decided to have a big Christmas breakfast that included our favorite items.  Carl got up really early and made pancakes(of the plain and chocolate chip varieties), eggs, turkey bacon, and fresh orange juice.  And then Max opened his present.  We got him a V-tech laptop since he is always trying to play with our laptop. 

He loved it...well, he seemed to really like the on/off button more than anything else.  We hope that he will eventually will play with more than just that button.  As Max played with his laptop we read our Christmas letters and I think this is another tradition that we will keep.  I really enjoyed writing that letter and reading what Carl had written to me.  I think the letter helped me reflect on the past year and all the wonderful times Carl, Max and I had together as well as giving to opportunity to tell Carl a lot of things that I had perhaps forgotten to say. 

After all that excitement, we put Max down for a nap and we just relaxed.  Then Carl came up with my favorite Christmas tradition:  the Stress-free Christmas.  We decided that we really enjoyed our simplified Christmas and we hope to keep it that way.  We really want to focus on serving others and really thinking about the birth of our Savior and what that means to us.  I am sure that as our kids get older we will buy presents and the like but I hope that we will always remember the lesson we learned this year.

Since our family Christmas parties don't officially end until tomorrow, I am saving all the family celebrations pictures and details for another post.