Our Christmas Remembered

This Christmas John and I, our whole family really, feel a bit spoiled. Extremely spoiled. Our children are now so armored with computer games, video games, learning games, and dollies that I honestly think we are covered for at least a couple years! Hayden received a LeapFrog Explorer with 2 games, all three of them received a LeapFrog Tag with 5 books, the family was gifted with a Wii accompanied by 3 games and 3 controllers, and I received a Nook Color. My kitchen is now updated with a new round of kitchen utensils, pyrex containers with lids, a new Magic Bullet (which warrants a post of its own), a couple baskets and lots of chocolate. John was gifted with extremely nice Midland radios, a battery charger for the vehicles, and some fantastic work pants (ripstop is worth the $$). This and many other gifts of movies, clothes, puzzles, knickknacks, and toys. Christmas has always been a fun time for John and I. We rarely buy gifts for each other and find great joy in buying and making gifts for the ones we love. There truly is great joy in giving. And years past we have been very fortunate to have received fantastic gifts as well. But this year truly caught us off guard. Never did we imagine being as spoiled as we all were this year. My goodness! As we continue to unload our Christmas loot, we are both humbled and grateful.
And though the gifts are nice to have and fun to give, we find ourselves soaking up the moments in between the most:

*walking into my parent’s house and being hit with flashback type memories. The Christmas tree decked in more colored lights than Clark could ever put on his house.  The living room so picturesque with holly and poinsettias, candles lit, Christmas music playing. I just wanted to curl up in my jimmies, turn the lights off, and soak up the Christmas love that I KNOW my mother puts into making things just right during holiday time.
*hearing the doorbell ring and the kids run to greet the guests. “Bell! Abby! Alex! Betty!” and hugs and kisses all around. “Ellen! Ross!” More hugs and kisses. The fun continues throughout the whole day. Sugared kids, tired yet contented adults enjoying conversation and coffee, sleeping men on the couch “watching” the game.

Then another day of:

*Wow! Presents under the tree! The sweet smell of turkey and sweet potatoes. Kids playing bowling and boxing with the adults. Laughing! Oh, the laughing!
*the kitchen conversations while the food is being prepared.
*the quick trips out to check the chickens and get some fresh air. But not too much because the wind was blowing and blowing!
*cookies and presents and wrapping paper everywhere. Hugs and thank yous. Sometimes a moment of stillness as everyone seems occupied with something/someone.

And then just at the right time, packing begins. Though the amount of time never seems to be enough, we are so grateful to have any time at all to spend all together.

Oh the fun. And the love! Soaked up each and every time we make a visit. Yes, we are grateful for our families, our parents, our siblings, our children. We are grateful for the year past with all it’s wonderful memories and difficult times. We look forward to this new year with new adventures and new memories.

I hope you all look back on 2011 with joy and gratitude. I pray you are blessed and content and look forward to this new year with anticipation and excitement.


**What has been your most favorite holiday memory as a child? **