All I Really Want for Christmas

I love listening to Christmas music during this time of year.  I have some of the classics, but I also have a lot of albums made by Christian contemporary artists.  In 2005, Stephen Curtis Chapman wrote a song called “All I Really Want” describing what an orphan would really want for Christmas.  I thought the song was sweet, but the words never hit so close to home as they have this year. These words have taken a new meaning for me:

“All I really want for Christmas is someone to tuck me in
A shoulder to cry on if I lose, shoulders to ride on if I win
There’s so much I could ask for, but there’s just one thing I need
All I really want for Christmas is a family.”

© By Stephen Curtis Chapman

This Christmas a little girl is getting that Christmas wish.  She may be too young to understand it.  After all, she’s only nineteen months old.  But one day she will understand.  She’ll find out how her parents, Philip and Chrissy Cobb, began praying for direction in adopting a child.  When the door closed for them to adopt a child from Ethiopia, they didn’t give up.  They moved on to another adoption agency and were introduced to a little girl in China who was in need of a permanent family.

They first announced to the world that they were looking at adopting a little girl in China in early May of 2011.  Although they had been told the process could take well over a year, they were able to fly to China on December 8 of this year and are now finalizing the paperwork in order to fly back to Florida in time to spend Christmas together with their new daughter, Li Rose.  They are due to arrive in Gainesville on December 21.

It has been quite an adventure.  Find out more about their story by visiting their blog: http://hobnobwiththecobbs.blogspot.com/

Philip with Josh, Chrissy with Li Rose

Christmas with the MK Meier Family

The timing for Stephen’s trip to the U.S., allowed for many Christmas gifts to be brought back to Ecuador.  Stephen spent one night with my siblings in Gainesville, Florida and they gave him many gifts to bring back to Ecuador with him.  We had also saved up gifts purchased over the summer to give to the boys for Christmas.  So, we have a tree loaded with presents when the boys woke up on Christmas morning.

Jared climbs through the tunnel of his new tent.

Every year, Christmas morning becomes a little more meaningful as the boys grow to understand and appreciate what the season means just a little bit more.  At nearly three and a half, Jared was really starting to understand the concept of Christmas.  He was able to help pick out some presents he wanted to give his brother and his mommy and daddy.  We counted down the “naps” until Christmas, since Jared sleeps twice in a 24 hour period. 

I woke up on Christmas morning before anyone else.  Usually, I find it difficult to get out of bed, but the adrenaline of the upcoming day got me up early.  I puttered around the house getting last minute things done and waiting for the boys to wake up.  A surge of excitement welled up inside me as I heard the boys stirring and Jared started talking to Luke.  I grabbed my camera and waited to take a picture of the boys as they came out of their bedroom for the first time to see the tree, the presents, the bulging stockings and…of course…their first present, a small Discovery kids tent with a tunnel attachment already set up in the middle of the living room. 

Luke zooms through the tent tunnel with great excitement.

Jared came out of the bedroom first.  His eyes grew wide as he looked into the living room.  However, he retreated quickly back into his bedroom before I could get a picture.  I could hear him talking to Luke and trying to coax him to leave the bedroom. 

After about five more minutes, I see Luke walk out of the room, with Jared literally pushing him out the door. 

“Look at the presents, Luke!” Jared was saying. 

They were both surprised to see me standing there, and got a bit side tracked by my Christmas greetings.  But eventually they made it to the living room and their new tent.  They were so excited and begin to climb through the tent and the tunnel immediately.  I let them play a little while, and then told them that they needed to drink their morning milk, because it was already 7:30 in the morning.  They had both wet through their pajamas, so I changed them into new sleepwear.  By then, Stephen was awake. 

We let the boys open their stockings first.  By this year, Jared was beginning to understand the concept of digging everything out of the stocking before focusing on one object.  Luke, however, wanted to stop and play with every toy he pulled out of his stocking before trying to get anything else out of his stocking.  It took a bit of convincing to turn his attention back to the stocking when he had so many intriguing toys lying around him.

Jared and Luke open their stockings with a little help from Mamma.

 After the stockings were finally empty, it was time for the boys to take a bath and get ready for breakfast.  So, we all got ourselves cleaned up and filled our bellies before we tackled the Christmas tree loaded with wrapped gifts. 

By the time breakfast was done, the dishes washed and put away, it was already 10am.  Stephen read the story of the three wise men to Jared and Luke to explain why we give gifts to each other on Christmas day.  The night before, we had read the Christmas story of Jesus being born, so we didn’t repeat it again that morning. 

Then, we began to open presents.  We let Luke be the first to select any gift to give to the person to whom it belonged.  That was Jared’s present.  Next, Jared selected a gift.  We let Luke and Jared continue selecting the gifts.  Luke was the first to get tired of the gift-opening process.  After selecting gifts for the fourth or fifth time, Luke began to grab gifts, hand them to his dad and then take off to play with a gift he had already opened. 

Jared wanted to help everyone open their gifts, too. 

We had to pause a few times to allow the boys to try out their new gifts.  By the time all the gifts had been unwrapped, it was past noon.  We gave the boys their lunch and put them down for a nap without any struggle.  They fell asleep almost immediately.  Who knew that opening gifts all morning could be so tiring?

Christmas Ills and Good Wills

The Christmas season brought good will and a few ills to the Meier Family this year.  Apparently, there was a stomach virus spreading among some of the students and staff during the last week of school before Christmas vacation. 

It was during that week that Jared began to throw up his meals and started having some problems with diarrhea.  I assumed he might have been reacting to the amoeba medicine given to him by his doctor.  However, Luke started having the same symptoms during our Christmas break.  By Christmas Eve, both Stephen and I were also feeling ill. We had to decline a Christmas dinner invitation because we were trying to recover.

A Meier Family Christmas Pose

In spite of having weak stomachs, we were able to enjoy Christmas day together.  I actually started feeling better on Christmas day.  Jared had finally recovered from his symptoms and baby Luke was able to keep most of his food down that day.  We were able to talk to our extended family on Skype at different times during the day.

And the family who invited us over for a Christmas meal decided to bring the food to us, so that we could have “a taste of Christmas” at home.

By New Year’s Eve, each of us had fully recovered from our ills.  And I think Little Luke is trying to make up for all the meals he lost during his illness by being hungry all the time.

It will be a Christmas holiday that we will not soon forget.