I hate to say it, but when its all over Im generally glad. Its a lot of pressure on a Mom/Wife to make Christmas work and work well! I can sigh now and relax a little.
What did we do? We had a fun few days leading up the yesterday. On Friday we got to see the play TUNA CHRISTMAS at the Shakespeare Theater thanks to Sasa and Taylor. Oh my lands...if you EVER get the chance to see it, dont hesitate. Its a two man show with about 20 characters and every Texas stereotype that you can imagine. I honestly have never seen Eric Shivers laugh so hard and so much. What a great fun night with dear friends!
Then on Saturday we headed to St. Augustine to see some of our long time out of town friends. We always get together with them at Christmas (and in between too) and had a nice day just hanging out with our children.
Monday night we attended Orangewood's Christmas Eve service and it was A-MA-ZING!! I seriously think it was the best one in years. Its always a fun time seeing friends and church people and kids who come home from college for the holidays. I like so much that its at 5pm so that we can go and enjoy it and then get back home for the Christmas Eve activities. The service this year, for some reason, was very meaningful and very moving to me. I love the music and the lights and the lighting of the advent wreath. Our friends the Bradleys lit it as a family and having seen their lives up close and personal for the last four years...it brought tears to my eyes just seeing them. You know...I think that God just shows up. There is that Scripture passage that says that God inhabits the praise of his people and I believe its true. When the lights go down and everyone lights their candle by passing it to their brother or sister and we sing Silent Night its simply overwhelming....I loved it.
At home again, we each had our favorite meal...for E, sushi...for the girl...Macaroni and Cheese...and for me...really....honestly...I had cake. Its what I wanted!!! Then putting out food and water for the reindeer and writing Santa a note and putting out cookies...and off to bed. E and I wrapped a few remaining gifts and I dutifully dumped out the reindeer water, collected the reindeer carrots, crumbled the cookies, drank the Santa milk and then wrote her a note back from Santa (Oppss.... I hope I didnt ruin the Christmas magic for anyone...well if you still believe in santa and you are old enough to read this...well...im not gonna go there!) E stayed up longer wrapping stuff but I was in bed by 10.
The girl, from what she told us, was up by 5am. What was so funny is that E and her had this fun thing worked out. They each had walkie talkies and so he said when she woke up she was to turn hers on and beep him. And when he woke up he would turn his on too and when they heard each other's beeps then they would talk. (E wanted her to stay in bed until he could get the video camera and so he could be semi awake to enjoy her reaction) When he clicked his on at 7am he heard a mildly annoyed voice say, "DADDdddddddddddd....Ive been up for two hours!!!!" Oh hilarious!
The gifts are fun but mostly just enjoying each other. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then we all went out in our pajammies to watch the girl use her new rollerblades. Fun part was that the neighbors were up and out too in various states of dress...So we "coffee-ed" with them for a bit and then returned in to the carnage follows gift giving...
Part two later as im being paged right now to tighten roller blades and just "be outside with us mom!!!"
What did we do? We had a fun few days leading up the yesterday. On Friday we got to see the play TUNA CHRISTMAS at the Shakespeare Theater thanks to Sasa and Taylor. Oh my lands...if you EVER get the chance to see it, dont hesitate. Its a two man show with about 20 characters and every Texas stereotype that you can imagine. I honestly have never seen Eric Shivers laugh so hard and so much. What a great fun night with dear friends!
Then on Saturday we headed to St. Augustine to see some of our long time out of town friends. We always get together with them at Christmas (and in between too) and had a nice day just hanging out with our children.
Monday night we attended Orangewood's Christmas Eve service and it was A-MA-ZING!! I seriously think it was the best one in years. Its always a fun time seeing friends and church people and kids who come home from college for the holidays. I like so much that its at 5pm so that we can go and enjoy it and then get back home for the Christmas Eve activities. The service this year, for some reason, was very meaningful and very moving to me. I love the music and the lights and the lighting of the advent wreath. Our friends the Bradleys lit it as a family and having seen their lives up close and personal for the last four years...it brought tears to my eyes just seeing them. You know...I think that God just shows up. There is that Scripture passage that says that God inhabits the praise of his people and I believe its true. When the lights go down and everyone lights their candle by passing it to their brother or sister and we sing Silent Night its simply overwhelming....I loved it.
At home again, we each had our favorite meal...for E, sushi...for the girl...Macaroni and Cheese...and for me...really....honestly...I had cake. Its what I wanted!!! Then putting out food and water for the reindeer and writing Santa a note and putting out cookies...and off to bed. E and I wrapped a few remaining gifts and I dutifully dumped out the reindeer water, collected the reindeer carrots, crumbled the cookies, drank the Santa milk and then wrote her a note back from Santa (Oppss.... I hope I didnt ruin the Christmas magic for anyone...well if you still believe in santa and you are old enough to read this...well...im not gonna go there!) E stayed up longer wrapping stuff but I was in bed by 10.
The girl, from what she told us, was up by 5am. What was so funny is that E and her had this fun thing worked out. They each had walkie talkies and so he said when she woke up she was to turn hers on and beep him. And when he woke up he would turn his on too and when they heard each other's beeps then they would talk. (E wanted her to stay in bed until he could get the video camera and so he could be semi awake to enjoy her reaction) When he clicked his on at 7am he heard a mildly annoyed voice say, "DADDdddddddddddd....Ive been up for two hours!!!!" Oh hilarious!
The gifts are fun but mostly just enjoying each other. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then we all went out in our pajammies to watch the girl use her new rollerblades. Fun part was that the neighbors were up and out too in various states of dress...So we "coffee-ed" with them for a bit and then returned in to the carnage follows gift giving...
Part two later as im being paged right now to tighten roller blades and just "be outside with us mom!!!"
4 comments:
It sounds gloriously stress-free-- the best kind of holiday there is.
I'm with you--Silent Night was overwhelming. The sea of light and the voices of those worshiping filling the room... wow.
I hope the rest of your vacation is just as magical.
sounds like you had fun!! the walkie talkie thing was funny!!! ooh moneeyyyy
WHO is your photographer?!?!? That picture is A-MA-ZING!!! Of course the subjects were beautiful, but the way the s/he captured the inner beauty brought tears to my eyes. I'm just sayin'...
Pumnani
I KNOW!!! Our photographer was someone who was a beauty to behold herself...A-MA-ZING....Im just saying....
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