A Saint has told us that one day at Mass he saw Jesus Christ with His hands full of gifts, looking for souls to whom He might give them. ~ St. John Vianney
We began our Christmas morning praying the Joyful Mysteries of the rosary together as a family.
Then, after digging through their stockings, the children all asked is if we could exchange Christkindl gifts first, before opening their gifts from their dad and I!
Everyone was so curious to find out who had who! 🙂
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| The Walkie Talkies, Metal Earth Models, Snuggles Toy Swiss Army Knife and Captain’s New Watch were a few favorites found in the stockings this year. |
Like last year we gave each child an allowance (except for Captain who asked if he could use some of the money he was given on his last birthday) to choose a gift for their Christkindl. Sean ended up having Twinkle Toes and picked out a new puzzle for her, I had purchased a new calendar for Sean to use at work, Captain had spent some of his own savings on a restaurant gift card to give to me, which he had purchased at the local grocery store, so that Sean and I could go out to dinner sometime (so thoughtful!), Rascal had picked out a doll dress for Chiquita, Twinkle Toes gave Captain his wished for Original Perplexus (which he has already mastered – he’s ready for the Epic!), Chiquita picked out a lego set to give to Rascal, Snuggles gave Bud a block set (like this one), Rose gave Snuggles the Rookie Perplexus (we were able to find these locally at 50% off!), and Bud helped me wrap a pink tutu (made by a friend of mine) for him to give Rose.
I did list the gifts we planned to give our children in this post, but I will try and include the links here (along with any changes) as well. Our children were blessed once again this Christmas with many wonderful gifts, in addition to new hats and mittens from my parents and gifts from Sean’s parents on Epiphany! They also helped pack and ship gift packages to a couple struggling families. The income from my new sponsors here at Shower of Roses, along with the commissions received though all the affiliate links, has been such a blessing! Thank you to all those bless our family by sponsoring this blog, using the affiliate/sponsor links, or with your prayers. May God reward you!
.: Gifts for Captain and Rascal :.
ages 13 and 11
Rascal received the Mirkwood Elf Army, Mountain Hut (I love this new lego set!), and the Brandenburg Gate. It didn’t take the boys long at all to have all their new sets assembled!
We had originally planned to surprise them with their own Cassocks and Surplices, but I made a mistake when ordering them (I ordered red instead of black) and didn’t have time to exchange them before Christmas since they were ordered online… Whoops! Just before Christmas I saw some winter snow boots at Costco, which they really needed, so I picked those up to give them instead.
*I love that my big boys are so sweet and were more than willing to humor me by wearing the matching reindeer pajamas… I usually just give them the plaid pants with a solid/plain t-shirt, but didn’t have the time to find one this year. They are probably glad that they will outgrow the Gymboree sizes soon!
.: Gifts for Twinkle Toes and Chiquita :.
ages 10 and 8
Twinkle Toes was given Saige’s Horse and Saddle Set (purchased before they sold out), along with Caroline’s Holiday Gown.
It is always so much fun to watch Chiquita open her gifts. I just love her excitement and squeals! This year she received Josefina’s Bed and Bedding, Kaya’s Animals, and Josefina’s Feast Outfit.
I also enjoyed watching Chiquita flip through the pages St. Mary’s Messenger (we gave her a subscription to St. Mary’s Messenger and a couple Holy Heroes CDs) and seeing her excitement when she discovered the pages featuring one of her past birthday parties!
.: Gifts for Snuggles :.
age 6
My dear friend Erica made Vestments for us to give to Snuggles! (She was going to try and open an Etsy shop before Christmas, but that new godson of mine arrived a bit earlier than expected with a few complications! Hopefully this year!) This little boy just loves playing Mass and he had to try them on immediately. His excitement continued to increase when he discovered his new St. Michael the Archangel Pillowcase and the Baptism Set!
It didn’t take long for the baptisms to begin!
Snuggles also received a stack of three lego sets including the Coast Guard Patrol, Small Cottage, and Red Rotors.
.: Gifts for Rose :.
age 4
She also received a set of Pink Rosary Roses and a St. Therese Pillowcase.
.: Gifts for Bud :.
age 2
Bud was so excited when he opened his (way too many!) gifts from his godparents! The Signing Time DVDs they sent completed our collection and the Nativity puzzle is simply beautiful!
Castle Stacking Blocks for Bud…
… and I had originally been torn on whether to order the Melissa & Doug Deluxe Folding Medieval Castle, since the girls already have the Princess Castle, but Sean talked me into it when it was featured on one of the Amazon Lightning deals. I’m so glad he did! It’s nice to have the “boy” version and it has been played with so much already! In fact, I often see our three youngest playing with the two castles set up together.
We also gave the children each a stack of books. You can see all of those here:
After Bud opened his castle, my camera card was full so I put it down for the rest of the day and only snapped a couple additional pictures with my cellphone…
It’s a bit of a drive, but we were very excited to hear that Father Carmelo was asked to offer Mass at the Veteran’s Domiciliary Chapel at 4pm on Christmas Day! This year, instead of attending the Midnight Mass, we attended Christmas Mass at the Dom and the boys were able to serve for Father once again!
After Mass we drove around looking at Christmas lights in a nearby town before coming home for dinner. It was such a wonderful day filled with joy and blessings!
I was SO looking forward to this post! 🙂 I've been checking your blog every day wondering if you were able to post this all yet lol. (By the way, I'm sorry you haven't been feeling well lately…that's no fun! I haven't been feeling the greatest either this week. I guess it's that time of year…) anyway, THANK YOU for posting this! Looks like the most joyous, blessed Christmas. 🙂 God bless you and your family, Jessica.
~Kristin
You have a way of capturing joy!!!! God continue to bless your sweet family!!
Loved the expressions of excitement and joy on your children's faces, as well as the gifts, the pjs, the beautifully-made vestments that your friend made for your son, and the Baptism of the dolls! How sweet was that ceremony?! Thank you for sharing your very special Christmas Day with all of us. God bless! Bernadette 🙂
Everything is so beautiful. Thanks for sharing. Do you know where you got the Nativity set that has the angels holding candles? I want to purchase a Nativity set and have been looking online but have seen nothing like your set.
Thank you! I actually purchased the Holy Family Statues at Costco back in 2010. I think I only paid $28 for the set, including the background/mirror!
The angels were also from Costco, and though I did see them a number of years ago, I couldn't purchase them at the time, as much as I loved them. I was so excited a couple years ago when a dear woman from our parish gave me the set! They have been sitting on top of my bookcase that hold's all of our saints and feast day books. They match our Holy Family Statues too nicely to not display them together during Advent and Christmas!
Thank you, Bernadette! I posted more doll baptism pictures from the next day here! God bless you and your family too! 🙂
Thank you! God bless you too!
Really?! You know, I actually wondered if anyone would notice if I skipped it this year. 🙂 Just looking at all the photos and trying to figure out how to turn them into a post was a little overwhelming at first, especially while sick. lol I'm glad I finished it though! My children always love looking back at these types of posts. I hope you are feeling better now too! God bless!
Did the angels come with the set?
Were the angels part of the Holy Family set?
But you didn't tell us what YOU got for Christmas 😉 and…would you mind sharing what your husband got? I could use some husband/dad gift ideas :S
That is such a cute picture of Bud sitting looking up at his blocks! 🙂
Thanks for sharing all this! You amaze me!!
No, the angels did not come with the Holy Family set. They were also made by Kirkland and the two angels were sold together in one box.
I love that picture too! It was one of my favorites from Christmas day! 🙂
Okay, let's see. In addition to the Saints Galore Calendar which I linked to in the post, I also gave my husband some new clothing for work, including another pair of Kuhl pants (these are so awesome!), some thermal underwear (he works outdoors in the snow/mountains), All Weather Gloves, a Sport Watch and this watch. I also gave him a gift card to a coffee shop drive through near his work office and a gift card to the movies for him and I to go on a date sometime. (We had hoped to go see The Hobbit over New Year's but we weren't able to since I ended up getting sick and am still recovering.)
I'll have to take a few pictures of the gifts he gave me to share! I had meant to but my camera card was full before I had a chance. 🙂
As for my gifts… My husband gave me two beautiful new scarves (one that is nearly identical to the one my mom and dad gave me on Christmas Eve! They know my tastes well!), a Denim Skirt, a purse, the Saint Cecilia Cookie Mold (squeee!!!) and some perfume and chocolates in my stocking.
In addition to the scarf my Mom and Dad also gave me a photo album with pictures of all my siblings from 2013 and a gorgeous bracelet.
My MIL and FIL gave me a copy of Jane Austen's Seven Novels, the 2014 Tan Saints Calendar/Planner and Restless Heart DVD!