It seems everyones favorite question to ask around the holidays consists of "What are your plans?" "Who are you spending the eve and day with?" etc. So allow me to fill you in. The life of a hospital nurse has it's pros and cons. One of the cons is obviously that the hospital never closes. EVER. Therefore we must all take turns working on the various holidays. This year was my turn to work Christmas. Saturday and Sunday I had to work from 7am-3pm. Not terrible, but not ideal. I took care of a set of twins, and did have some fun taking a Christmas photo for them in their Christmas onesies. :) But of course, I'd have preferred to be at home. After work on Saturday I rushed home, picked up Justin and headed over to the Hunts for our Christmas eve dinner with Justin's parents and Aftan and Eric. We've been anticipating Aftan and Eric's gender reveal... they announced via an adorable photo that they will be having a baby girl, due to make her appearance May 20th. :) After dinner we headed over to Calvary Fellowship Church for their Christmas Eve service, which was really wonderful and did a great job explaining the true meaning of Christmas. After some brief chatting and farewells to Justin's parents (who were headed to Williamsburg for Christmas day), Justin and I went home. I'm sorry to say I don't have a single photo from Christmas Eve! Shocking, isn't it...
Once home, we unloaded the car, tidied up a bit and then had
our Christmas gift exchange. It was more fun than last year, because this year we actually wrapped up the gifts under the tree! Last year they just sat there in shopping bags (Justin's idea of course). After opening our gifts, we tidied up a bit, I made a casserole for Christmas day and then it was off to bed! When the alarm went off at 5:15am on Christmas morning, I must say, I was somewhat bitter about it. But off to work I went. That afternoon I drove home, picked up Justin and headed to my parent's house.
My parent's house...not a rental! If you recall,
last year, was a unique year for me and my family for Christmas. Due to the fire that occurred at their home
December 7, 2010, our Christmas was anything but typical. This year... the kitchen is not in yet, carpenters are still working in certain areas of the house, the furniture and light fixtures are not all in, etc.
But we were all there and it felt like home. It was wonderful! I took tons of pictures, but I won't bore you with them all (only most of them). It was just so great to have everyone all together back in the place most of us call home. Despite the lack of a full kitchen and comfy furniture for all, everyone was smiling and having a great time. We ate off of plastic plates with plastic utensils (the easiest Christmas clean-up ever!) and the food was delicious!
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| Pretty sure you can see Jake drooling... He was more than happy to 'assist' my dad in preparing the meat. |
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| My mom cooked a fantastic Christmas dinner in her unconventional kitchen! |
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| The whole gang minus Ben, who was still sleeping. |
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| The Boys. |
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| The Mclaughlins |
Santa Claus came to visit which is always lots of fun for the kids and hilarious for us to watch... particularly because Santa was extra chesty this year! haha
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| Maddie's face is priceless.... and she was so skeptical about Santa just moments before! :) |
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| Catie was not too thrilled with Santa's arrival... |
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| Our Double-D Santa! hahaha |
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| They memorized a bunch of Bible verses to say to Santa. It was quite impressive. |
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| our professional camera-man! |
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| Jesus' Birthday Cake |
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| Loving Ben's big smiles! |
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| My mom's shocked face opening my dad's big surprise.... a Disney Timeshare...FOR ALL 15 OF US! |
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My dad in the hot-seat, explaining his gift as he had always vowed NEVER to buy a timeshare! He has been repeatedly quoted as saying what a scam they are. But apparently he found a way around the scam.
And we are all so thankful he did! |
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| My mom's favorite place in the entire world is Disney World... pretty sure he earned MEGA points for this gift! :) |
After lots of fun, food and way too many presents, we called it a night. As we headed home, I thought about just how much we have to be thankful for. We've been truly blessed. Above all, we are thankful for God loving us enough to send His son Jesus down from heaven to be born as a baby in a manger, destined to die for us. When focused on the true meaning of Christmas, it is impossible not to enjoy it
... and we definitely did.
"Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift"
2 Corinthians 9:15
Merry Christmas!
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