In Our House...

Merry Christmas Eve to everyone! I can't believe it is already here. I felt like October would never end and now I feel like I went to bed and woke up with both November and December gone. I just thought I would give everyone an update about whats been going on in our house.

I am extremely blessed to have 2 weeks off of work while the girls are on their school break. So far I have loved every minute of it. On Sunday, James' family came over to celebrate Christmas. We went to a yummy Mexican food place and then opened gifts. Nick decided to stick around a little longer and watch Dark Knight with us. I had not seen it yet, but was very impressed. I just need to watch it a few more times to make sure I caught everything.

James promised me that he would take off both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day from work (doesn't sound like a big deal to most folks, but trust me, it's a big deal for him), so we have been planning minute by minute our schedule. He was to be home from work about 4:15 yesterday and then we were free! Well, on his way home he called to ask if we had any cough drops and cold medicine. Uh oh! Yeah, so our plans may have to be tweaked. We did manage to go eat and were planning to see Seven Pounds after dinner, but he couldn't make it. We came home after dinner and he basically collapsed on the couch. I am now being as quiet as I possibly can so he can sleep as late as possible today. I want him to get better!

Depending on how he is feeling and assuming I don't catch what he has, we plan to go to Christmas Eve Service and then out to dinner with some friends tonight, celebrate Christmas together in the morning and see a couple of movies during the day. My folks are headed here when Mom gets off work tomorrow afternoon and then we will all go celebrate at Russell and Sarah's.

I had this wonderful plan of how perfect our few days would go and now I am reminded that I am not in control. Christmas time is not about time off from work, giving and receiving gifts, going to see all the new movies out, fantastic food or even time with our loved ones. Basically, Christmas is not about me. All of those things are wonderful and should be enjoyed, but as I get busy with those things I have a tendency to be consumed in myself. I forget that all of this should be for Jesus and his ultimate sacrifice. He should be the reason we are celebrating. We should be giving gifts out of gratitude for our many blessing that come from him. We should be savoring precious moments with our loved ones because he placed us together. I should be shouting praises to him at the top of my lungs for reconciling what was once broken and lost.

Now I'm off to give, savor and praise! Merry Christmas to all of you!