Christmas with 33 Kids!

I grew up in a family of four. Dad, mom, sister (Sarah), and me (Christie). We also have a pretty small extended family, most of which lived far away when we were growing up. So on holidays it was usually only five of us, since Grandma would never miss spending a holiday with us! And every now and then some of the other grandparents would make it; but I never remember a holiday with more than seven of us.

So this year was definitely a new experience for me, spending my Christmas with 33 kids and over twenty volunteers!! Excited kids on Christmas morning takes on a whole new meaning when you're dealing with that many kids! We almost had to hire a guard just to keep the kids from ripping into their gifts before it was time!!

With a little help (from two locked doors), we managed to keep the kids away from the tree until nine in the morning. Around that time Uncle Jeff and the Long family, along with a bunch of out-of-town volunteers headed up to the children's home and we all piled into the Christmas tree/present room!

We sang Christmas carols, shared holiday tradition stories, and remembered the birth of Jesus together as one big family! We prayed and thanked God for all the many gifts donated and then began passing the out to the kids, with a few of our men volunteers jumping into the "Santa" roll.

On behalf of Kids International Ministries and all the kids, thank you to everyone who donated clothes, toys, candies, games, stuffed animals, and many other Christmas gifts. It is a blessing for these kids to have gifts to open on Christmas morning! We hope that your Christmas was as blessed as ours!