Christmas or Giving Challenge: Day 2

Okay yes, I am missing two days...I know, I know I KNOW!!!  See, what had happened wuuuzzz, my kiddos were supposed to stay the night with their Aunt Friday night, and instead conked out in the car on the way home from our community Christmas Parade about 9pm.  ALL THREE AT THE SAME TIME!!!  WOW!!  It is so rare for any of them to fall asleep that early much less all three!  So needless to say they were put straight into bed and stayed there the whole night through.  Which meant no family bible reading...Booooo.  Then last night they got in super late from going to see the Nutcracker Ballet with their aunt (yes the one they were supposed to have stayed the night with), and since Sunday mornings are killer around here if they don't get their sleep (not to mention they were whiny tired little things from a full day of being spoiled rotten) they went straight to bed.  So tonight after we got in from church, with one already asleep from the ride home and carried to bed, I was determined to have our nightly Bible time with the remaining alert groggy half awake kids.  We read Luke chapter 2 verses 4-8 (to catch up from missing the nights before) and discussed what it might have been like to go to the place Josephs family was from just to pay money to the government.  To get there and not even have a room to sleep in, and, to top it all off, for Mary to go into labor.  How much more of a humble beginning to life could one baby have???  I think that was kind of the point though, don't you?  Macey was the half awake child, and when asked what she had done the last couple of days to give of herself I got a resounding "nuthin"... fwweeewww five year olds!  So I will tell you what she has done in spite of her conviction that she has done "nuthin"   Tonight when her sister had lost a toy at church (which I want to add she was told not to take in at all!) Macey started crying in sympathy with her, and said she wanted to go look for Madeline's toy cause she was sad she had lost it.  That melted my heart of course, but in the true spirit of honesty I have to say that she did follow that up with the comment  "I liked hers better than mine too!!!".  So maybe her giving was a little self serving, but hey she's FIVE folks, and the fact that she was willing to help her sister find a toy is HUGE!  Then there is the instance on the way home tonight where Macey was being a little magpie and yakkity yakking.  Well Kent wanted to talk,and couldn't get a word in edgewise (just like a male wanting to take up a females perfectly good talking time!!).  finally, I told Macey that Kent wanted to talk could she please let him have a turn.  So she promptly closed her mouth,and let Kent have his say without any fussing about it...AH. MAZE. ING!  She ALWAYS has something to say about not getting to do exactly what she wants to do.  I was quite impressed with her desire to let him have his time with nary a comment on her part about not being finished or something else that she always seems to come up with.  So giving is abounding in my family, and we are dearly loving this Christmas reading Challenge even if we have really only done two nights of it.  I hope we can get back on track, and do it daily...maybe if we move it to the mornings before school....hmmmm something to consider.

I hope your season of giving is going well!

Have a great day and God Bless!