Christmas Eve Eve Words.

Does it feel like Christmas at your house? Because it is MUGGY here. Welcome to the south, I suppose. Someone posted on Facebook yesterday that the farmer's almanac predicts long, cold winters when it's warm on Christmas. I'm perfectly ok with that. Bring on the cold! I need a blanket and a fire and I am a happy girl! I just wish we would have that ON Christmas Day. A few years ago we drove to Roswell on Christmas Day and it started snowing on us on the way and it was WHITE by the time we arrived. So cool. Will is just beside himself that there won't be snow on Christmas. Something tells me he lives in the wrong part of the country if he's going to cry about no snow on Christmas.

We have been busy folks around here, but there's nothing exciting to share. Our Christmas break began on Friday afternoon and we have ENJOYED ourselves. We played Upward Basketball over the weekend. James' team looked great on Saturday and we had a fun time watching. James even had a cute little cheerleader (Merritt) in the stands watching him. It has been SO fun to watch him play a sport that he is supremely interested in. Gone are the days of laying in the dirt at t-ball games. He is INTO basketball. (We do think we're going to try t-ball again this spring. And maybe art and piano if we can find teachers. Suddenly my children have busier social calendars than I do.)

We had Bowen Christmas over the weekend which I didn't even take a single picture of. The boys racked UP at that Christmas and each came home with a bucket of Legos, a bow and arrow, puzzles, an indoor basketball goal, etc. James has pulled his Legos out 4,543,423 times already. They also put up the basketball goal and have been playing. It has kept them busy for sure!

 James and I dropped by our preacher's house for their annual Open House. We enjoyed ourselves and James was quite the little gentleman while we were there. He got a cookie and a cup of water and climbed up on a chair to read a Christmas book while I was chatting. I am so thankful that he's easy! He's my grown man in a child's body and that comes in handy a lot of the time. (Don't worry. He gets plenty of time to be a kid. And has been showing that side a LOT at school recently. Giving me a run for my money in kindergarten lately!)

We made our gingerbread houses over the weekend. I would post a picture here but Will is looking a little scandalous in a pair of too-small undies that he's wearing backwards. (Or bat-wads as he says.) We use reusable plastic houses every year and this year I pulled out the two small ones, iced them for the boys, and let them go to town. We aren't going to win any awards for them, but they had a blast. Will complained that his stomach hurt when it was over. Ya think? Quit licking your fingers!

I watched the first Star Wars movie this week when I had a spare minute two hours. I thought I was nerdy enough to REALLY geek out about it. My consensus is that I really like the story and will watch the rest FOR SURE. However, I also think I would be geeking out more if I'd watched the movies twenty years ago. I'm sure that for 1978 the effects are AWESOME, but for 2015, they are not. I love, LOVE movies from the 70s and 80s so I know that special effects have come a LONG way, but I also watched those movies growing up when they were still super impressive. Jaws is one of my favorite movies of all time and that shark doesn't look real anymore. But I've been watching that movie since I was TEN so there's a huge difference. I've only watched the original first movie. I was told to watch the original three first, then the three prequels, and then the new one. I've actually seen the first prequel and I was NOT impressed (saw it in the theater years ago). Surprisingly (to me), Star Wars fans don't recommend that you even watch that one. 

Eddie and I went to a John Berry concert one night this week with some friends. We had a great time! A local couple's child died over the weekend and the concert took donations for them. They wound up raising $5300 for the foundation that has been started in his name. My understanding is that the family is donating 100% of the donations to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital where he died. They raffled off about 10 gift cards and then a guitar was raffled and the winner donated it to be auctioned off. It was neat to watch that unfold. It went for $1100. We wound up going to dinner after the concert was over and we stayed out until 11:30! That is late for the old folks. 

For the first time since 2002 I missed our annual girls' Christmas party. We bought tickets to the concert thinking the Christmas party would be on the night it always was and it got changed. I was sad not to be able to go, but I guess it had to happen sometime. 

I've spent the morning watching Christmas movies, drinking coffee, making a grocery list, and wrapping gifts. My house isn't clean, but it's pretty close. The boys are SO STINKING EXCITED about Christmas this year. I have a feeling that sleeping on Christmas Eve is going to be hard to come by. Hopefully I can wear them out tomorrow during the day. We have BIG plans in the next few days and the boys and I haven't crossed everything off of our to-do lists yet so I'm thinking we'll be celebrating Christmas through next week. It snuck up on us this year!

In case this is my last post before Christmas, I just want to say that I hope that you and your family have a VERY happy, healthy, MERRY Christmas. There is so much that we have to be thankful for. This Christmas, more than any other, I've been aware of the blessings that I have in my life. Our neighbors lost a grandfather this week and watching the cars coming and going to bring meals and offer condolences the week of Christmas has been a good reminder of how quickly things can change. The little boy I mentioned above was 17 months old and got choked on food at the mall a few days ago. NOTHING was wrong with him. Their lives changed in an instant. It could happen to any of us. I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer on Christmas, and I'm really not feeling like one, but I want to soak in every second of every day because we just never know. On James' first Christmas we drove to Tifton and had a really special visit with Eddie's Uncle Jimmy. James comes from a long line of Jameses. He is the fourth (but not the IV) behind Uncle Jimmy, Eddie's granddaddy Jim, and Jim's daddy (I'm not sure what they called him...). Uncle Jimmy drove down to meet James at Christmas and while he was here he passed away. It definitely will change Christmas for you. Christmas isn't all lights and Santa. And the truth is that the first Christmas was probably pretty dark and messy, too. The first gift of Christmas wasn't wrapped in pretty wrapping paper with a gorgeous bow and placed under a perfectly decorated tree. We get so busy sometimes that we miss the first gift of Christmas. THE gift of Christmas. The only reason we have Christmas. We glamorize all of it, but if you get right down to it, Christmas isn't glamorous at all. My hope is that that's what I can impress upon my kids. In all of the Santa and reindeer hubbub (and we do get on board with all of that!) that the TRUTH of Christmas, right at the HEART of Christmas is the gift that is Christ. I pray he doesn't get lost in my Christmas this year.

Merry Christmas to you!