Christmas...

Christmas has come and gone. But it was a good year for us here. The kids made out! And we did too!!! It was all started off with a fun family party hosted by Tonya and Jason. We had a great time and lots of yummy food! We were soooo lucky to have Marc's grandma with us this year (she is 87!!). Everyone LOVES Dora!!!! She is sooooo sweet!!
We went home and opened our Christmas Eve presents sent out by grandma and papa. New PJ's, which is something we did growing up in my home and I love that my parents still do it even tho we are far away now. Christmas morning the kids woke up at 5:51 am and snuck out to peek. They had made a fort in Bryce's room to sleep in on Christmas Eve and they actually went back in and played Go Fish and came and got us at 7. Taylor's big gift this year was a PSP (Play Station hand held) and some games. Bryce got a Razor Spark Scooter (he calls it a sparkle scooter) that he has been DYING for and was soooo excited to get a guitar from my parents. I was excited to get a waffle maker as our family present (wink-wink) from Santa (think William Sonoma). And we also got a keyboard as a family gift. My husband took very good care of me as well... But for me this year 2 things were what made it Christmas. The first was being able to get gifts from an angel tree at the mall. What touched me about it was there were requests for a case of Mac and Cheese, Case of veggies, case of soup. So we took the kids to Costco and loaded up! I think it really hit me then how much we take things for granted. AND how truly blessed we are in our family. The second was we decided to do Christmas for a family that we knew was struggling. It was fun to go out as a family over a few weeks and buy presents for a family that would never know who it came from. I remember one year when Taylor was almost 2 and I was semi-seperated from my ex and there was a knock on my door and a group of young women I had never seen before were standing there with gifts for us. And they pressed something in my hand and left before I even realized they had done it. I walked back in my house and looked and saw I was holding a 100 dollar bill. That was SOOOOOO much money to me at that time because I needed food for Taylor and I. It had been an answer to my prayers. I will NEVER EVER forget that experience. So for me doing Christmas for someone else... made my Christmas. I have been richly blessed in my life and I am so greatful for my family. I never knew you could love like this. Or be loved like this. I am proof that The Lord truly does love us... I was stubborn and made some lame choices and STILL I have been blessed beyond measure. I am hoping and praying that this year will give me many, many opportunities to be of service to others and less focused on me.... Love to you ALL!!!!!!