Family

My honey and I went to my parents' place for Christmas with Mom's side of the family and to exchange our own gifts since Dad has to work Christmas Day this year. We were able to leave at a decent hour on Friday - the trip was dampened a bit as we listened to news about the shooting at the school in Connecticut. It was heartbreaking. We pray that the peace, comfort and healing that comes from the Lord will be felt by the families and friends of those whose lives were taken. Cam wrote a great post of his own regarding the tragedy - you can check it out here. You may think I am biased, but I truly appreciate his perspective on this. And aside from that, he writes really well. The rest of the trip was much more uplifting as we sang Christmas carols and talked and just enjoyed being together. When we first drove up I saw flashing lights in front of my grandparents' house and immediately my heart seized as I imagined my Poppa being put in an ambulance headed for emergency care. Cam calmly pointed out that the lights were not right for that type of emergency vehicle (or any emergency vehicle for that matter), but sweetly let me out of the car at the top of the driveway so I could rush over and see what was going on. About that time, a collective light bulb seemed to light above everyone around the vehicle as they realized what I must be thinking and the group en masse surged my direction with assurances there was nothing wrong. I think that was when my heart resumed beating at its normal pace. Shortly after introductions made in the dark (because in the country it does not seem to matter how many Christmas lights deck the house - it is still quite dark out there), my brothers and a couple cousins "drug" my man to town with them. Manly bonding ensued, I presume. Meanwhile, I made some salsa and green dip (recipes courtesy of my friend Lisa) and those ladies present got to hear all about how Cam and I met and so on and so forth...because getting me to talk about him is probably the easiest conversation starter ever, lol. My favorite aunt (I admit that shamelessly) also shared about her recent experience with breast cancer and the progress since her double mastectomy. She encouraged all of us to be faithful to having our annual physical exams - if she had skipped, she would not have detected it during a self-exam and they would not have caught it in stage 1. Treatment would not have been so "simple", and I use that term loosely.

Saturday was insane - making breakfast, last minute wrapping, cooking and setting up tables, kids running around. Insanity all around. Then it was time for said children to open their gifts. Chaos. That is the only word to accurately describe that experience. I think Cam's head was about to explode, lol. It was fun seeing their happy faces, but I myself had hoped for a bit more structure and orderly paper tearing.

Since being cold during December in Texas is so hit-or-miss, we were able to spend some pleasant time outdoors. The picture below was taken at our front fence:

I love his face.

There were lots of pictures taken of my mom with her sisters and their mother - my Gran. There were pictures taken of Gran surrounded by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. There were pictures of cousins with their spouses and children. I really wish Poppa had been able to join Gran for the pictures. It is heartbreaking that he really does not recognize most of us anymore. He had a hard time with all the excitement surrounding him and tired quickly.

We had our family picture taken with the horses/mules for our Christmas card (yeah - we are behind this year. Again.). Unfortunately, when I edited the photo in Instagram it only had room to include Cindy Lou's (Dad's mule) head or my mom. I chose my mom. Of course. 

Dad on Cindy Lou, Sam on Buck, John on Bonnie, Me on Bella and Mom on Misty

I also took a self-portrait of myself with my mom. It is safe to say she has been and always will be my best friend.

We left early enough Sunday morning to get back in time for our church's advent service. It was wonderful - such a blessing to celebrate Christ's birth through fellowship and worship. Our community group had a turkey dinner and Chinese Christmas gift exchange on Sunday evening. I can say with certainty that the green bean and sweet potato casseroles were the best I have ever tasted - normally I skip those dishes, but I went back for seconds. I ended up with a cool gift - a pancake pen. I will surely post pictures the first time I use it because it is going to be epic people. Totally epic.

As you can see the weekend was full to the hilt - I was so tired Sunday night that I crashed once I relaxed enough to sit down. It was full of smiles, laughter, hugs, kisses...even some tears both sad and joyful. It is times like these that are especially good for reminding us of God's many blessings on our family. I will add this, though. As much as the song "Don't Save it All for Christmas" bugs me, it makes a good point. We should never reserve showering love and affection and general goodwill toward others for just this one time in the year. God expects His children to make a habit of loving others every day. Not only does it set us apart from the world as His children, but ultimately it brings glory to Him and that is our purpose. I will not deny that I struggle to love those who "disrupt" my life - it is a sin (wow, that was hard to type) I have been convicted of a lot lately. Thankfully, God sent His son to die for my sins and His spirit to not only convict me when I sin, but to also strengthen me to overcome those sins. He has promised that with Him all things are possible. So, my prayer is that He will continually strengthen me to love those I would not love if left to my own devices. My prayer is that He will change my heart toward them - from one of resentment to one of loving kindness with a burning desire for them to know my Savior, too.

On a side (and not-quite-so-deep) note...only seven days left till Christmas! Or, as my love would say, only seven and a wake-up!