Family Time!

Tonight was one of our family Christmas parties. Jenn and Matt graciously hosted and I had a fantastic time! It was Claire and Brianna's first Christmas party! Claire was so unimpressed that by 6:30 she was fast asleep. Brianna fought a good fight but as soon as we got home around 8:40 she went straight to bed without a bath or dinner. That sounds like a punishment but it's not.

Last Friday Gail stopped by to see us (I didn't get ONE picture!!) and got Brianna a precious ornament and a cute Christmas bib. If I ever get around to taking pictures of my new ornaments this year I will definitely post that.

Tonight Joy gave Brianna a Christmas present. She got a bracelet, a cute outfit, and a handprint ornament kit. I will post pictures of the handprint ornament when it's complete!

Dad pointed out that I gave mom something today. Ronzoni pasta has been on sale at Lowe's, and with the 75 cent coupon doubled it's free. Mom's coupon beeped when she tried using it, whereas I got lucky with cashiers and each one typed in the amount the coupon was supposed to ring up as. So when I got yet another free box today, I left it in mom's kitchen. I wondered how long it would take her to notice it.

I also had a funny experience in Lowe's Food today. They have some of the nicest employees. I was searching the juice aisle for the best price when one of the stockers said, "Can I help you find something?" They always ask that to be polite, so I just said, "No thanks!" and turned back to the juice. This guy, though, said, "Oh come on, let me help you!" I kind of laughed and said, "That's okay - I'm just comparing prices." Then he said, "Well if you won't let me help you, then why don't you help me!" He was unloading juice onto the shelves. I kind of looked at him for a few seconds, then I set down everything in my hands and I said, "Okay." He just looked back at me and said, "What?" I said, "Okay, I'll help you. What can I do?" He just laughed and said, "You're really gonna help me?" I was like, "Sure! Give me one of those!" He said, "Nah, actually I'm stopping now because the shelves are full. But you just made my day! God is going to bless you!" And I said, "He does bless me!" He got this big grin on his face and said, "Man, are you married?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Oh man, he is so lucky!" I said, "No, I'm the lucky one." He said, "No, he is the lucky one! Do you have any children?" And I said, "Yep, we have a baby!" He said, "Ohhhh man, you are blessed!" I was like, "Yeah, I know!!"

Anyway as he was walking off I said Merry Christmas to him and we actually had a whole other conversation about how commercialized Christmas has become. It was really funny. As he walked away he said, "Oh man, you just blessed my day!" It just made me laugh. I love things like that.

Isn't it said that I can think of a handful of Christians that don't even like the Christmas season? I bet everyone knows one person that begins to cringe on December 1. That is just so absolutely sad to me. Parties, presents, money, crowds, have all taken the meaning out of Christmas. If you're so busy during December that you dread it, and that you can't even enjoy Jesus' birthday, you need to step back and look at the things you're saying yes to in my opinion.

I love December and Christmas. I love that our families do parties but not presents. I love spending a week or more in Georgia with our family there. I love knowing that on December 24 you can find me behind the piano at Stephen's grandmother's, singing carols until my voice is gone. I love doing a Christmas cantata for church. (And you know what? If I'm too tired or busy to make it to a practice, I don't kill myself trying to make it. The show will go on without me.) I love watching the kids Christmas play at church even though my child isn't in it. I love caroling. This year instead of going caroling with the youth group (we're going bowling instead) we are visiting a friend in the hospital and singing whatever carols she wants to hear. She is like another grandmother to us and has been in the hospital since before Thanksgiving. Truthfully she will probably not come home from there. I had the idea to go sing carols to her because I know it would make her more happy than anything else we could do for her. I can't wait to see her face when we show up there Thursday night. Thursday afternoon I am taking a donated Christmas tree to the family we adopted for December through Fed By Faith. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces either. I love decorating for Christmas, even though this year it took six days instead of one. I love Christmas music - and around our house, that starts before Halloween. It's just so sad what people have made Christmas. I would rather spend the whole Christmas day with family and friends, eating, talking, singing, reading the Bible, than get any present you could offer me. I'd be willing to bet most people feel like that too.

I don't know what the point of that tangent was. I guess I just feel sorry for people who feel like Christmas is a burden. I know someone at church who was just talking about it yesterday, I guess it was on my brain.

I made wassail again this year, so there is the recipe if you want it. I guess I should also post that on my recipe blog. Okay, I'm done.