Marzipan Moments - Christmas Shopping with 6 Children

This has been a wonderful beginning to the Christmas week.  I hear so many people complaining about how much they have to do, what is left to buy and where they have to go. I'm not immune to holiday stress. With my husband on the gulf and 6 children to manage on top of the present wrapping, goodie baking, holiday crafting and so forth, well, I can get all the marzipan squeezed right out of me. This week has blessed me so much. Monday I had an opportunity to take my 6 children shopping with me and then for lunch at an actual restaraunt. You know, the kind without any climbing equipment behind glass or plastic toys in the meals? They were excellent. They remembered to pray before our meal. They were polite to the server. They acted so well behaved and quiet. Ah...I actually finished a meal without making 15 trips to the potty and no one hurt anyone or made snarky comments. It was a Christmas blessing! Our shopping trip wasn't too bad either. Just one minor preteen moment with the oldest two, nothing I couildn't difuse quickly.  Today was another one of those kind of days. Oh, we had the usual dust-ups with the kids. Some things were spilled. Some things were broken. Some kid got popped in the face with a wrapping paper tube playing Star Wars while I was on the phone, but, they were also kind toward one another. They brought me tea in bed this morning. They were generous with their time and creativity to make special projects for our family, really cool little projects they made themselves. They helped each other with chores and even cleaned up after dinner. Just when you think that your kids only believe in Christmas for the big fat sack o' gifts...they show you something about the real meaning behind it. We talk about Jesus and how much God loved us to share Jesus with us even though He knew we wouldn't take care of him and he was going to get hurt. We talk about the way Jesus spent time with people who didn't have friends and how he taught them how to be better and to know God. Just when you think all of that is overshadowed by the commercial hoopla out there...Ah, there it is. The Christmas Spirit.