Christmas 2017

Christmas is without a doubt my most favorite holiday. It always has been. Christmas is just so beautiful in every way. (to me) Even the word Christmas has a song like quality. I have so many favorites at this time of year... Christmas books: The Night Before Christmas, The Polar Express, The Littlest Christmas Tree, all of the Gingerbread Man books... then there's the Christmas music that I start playing at the end (ish) of October; I just can't help myself. I discovered a new Christmas album this year and you have to get it if you are a Christmas music lover. It's Leslie Odom Jr.'s Simply Christmas Deluxe Edition --Wowzers! I love it. The Glee Christmas CD, Sugarland, Pentatonix, Blake Shelton, Trisha Yearwood, Faith Hill, Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, James Taylor, the list goes on and on. I have so many Christmas CDs! Christmas decorations, yes, please!! By the time I'm finished, my house looks amazing. It feels so cozy, so comfy, so Christmasy. It's my favorite. This year I put up four different trees. One year I had seven trees. (true) Being in the new house this year made decorating a bit of a challenge because it was a new landscape; it took more time and I definitely didn't use all of my decorations. There was nowhere to put it all. I'll be giving away a lot of decorations before next Christmas. I love how my house FEELS at Christmastime. I so enjoy it and it's always a bummer when I have to take it all down and face just plain ole January and February.

I love Christmas songs, especially the hymns of Christmas. Oh, how they speak to me! I love singing them, hearing them, soaking the words into my soul. My favorites are Silent Night and O Holy Night. The messages are crystal clear. Christmas is our Savior, the babe in a manger, his birth so that we may live. I love the words in O Holy Night... "long lay the world in sin and error pining Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices... O night divine."
That's it. That is the meaning of Christmas. Joy to the World, O Little Town of Bethlehem... "how silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given"... Hark, the Herald Angels Sing..." join the triumph of the skies...born that man no more may die"... I just picture so many angels proclaiming His birth and singing Glory Hallelujah to the newborn King!

I fully realize that Christmas time is not *this* for everyone. For many, it's a very sad, depressing, "hate it," "can't wait till it's over" kind of season. I'm sorry for that and the reasons why. I probably love Christmas because my grandparents made it a fun time, a special time for me. No, I do not remember my most favorite present or many of the gifts at all. I don't remember a favorite memory of those childhood Christmases. I just know that I loved it. I loved the feeling of it and the anticipation and the smell of the delicious food my grandmother fixed. I loved the decorations my grandmother put out and I enjoyed doing it with her. We had this silver fake tree (kind of aluminumish) with dark blue ornaments on it. Kind of like this. That's all. No other decorations. I'm not even sure there were lights on the tree. It was a good time. I carried all that Christmas Love over to my own family and wanted nothing more than to make Christmas time, the most wonderful magical time for them as well. This Christmas I saw how my daughter carried the Christmas feeling/traditions into her own home with her new husband and stepchildren. The same things we did when she was growing up, she is now doing in her home. Sure does make my heart smile.

This year all of my kids were able to be home for Christmas. It was the best gift! John Robert flew in from Texas. Jared and Marenda drove in from West Virginia and Katelyn and Nick drove in from Raleigh and Jacob lives here. I love it when I have everyone under the same roof for any amount of time. The Littles couldn't be here this year because they were with their mother, but hopefully, we will have them next year. Now that my children have to split their time between parents, we have kind of established a routine of sorts. On Christmas Eve, the kids and I attend a Christmas service called a Moravian Love Feast. We have done this for several years now and we love it. It feels like the real kick-off to Christmas. My oldest has not joined us for this for many years, but he went for me this year and I soaked it in.

The gang's all here! xoxoxo

Clemmons Moravian Church

After the Love Feast, the kids meet their dad for dinner at a Mexican restaurant then they drive through the Festival of Lights at Tanglewood Park then the kids come back to my house for the night and Christmas morning festivities and then to their dad's for dinner. It just seems to work for us.

Christmas morning we have the Pickle tradition. The pickle ornament is hidden in the tree somewhere and the first one to find it gets to open the first present then it either goes in descending order or ascending (age). This year the newbie found it... Nick. It's a serious business.

Nick is the winner -2017

So then we open presents (one at a time). We started that when the kids were just wee little so everyone could see what each one got and be able to enjoy it with them. We have breakfast. The same breakfast every year. Cheese Danish, but this year I added several more food dishes prepared the night before so I could give all my attention to Christmas morning. :)

We have a very relaxing Christmas Day. I love it. I love these people of mine. I am blessed. I am incredibly thankful and so happy this family is growing.

Her name is BAILEY after George Bailey from It's a Wonderful Life (my favorite movie of all time). Since I got her at Christmas I thought it a fitting name. Her middle is ZuZu. ("ZuZu'z petals")

This was my Christmas Eve surprise from the kids. A DOG.

What it looked like before they all woke up.

Brother shenanigans (soap art)

My 💝

His turn to get "iced."

Marenda (Aunt Pizza Sauce) the crazy Cat Lady

Our little Petite YaYa

Bub and Bailey

New Step picture in the New House=new traditions

My four

After Christmas, I got to spend two days with my sweet Grands. Just them and me... Grammy Time. I drove to Raleigh to get them and when we got back to the house, it was Christmas fun once again. We stayed up late, watched Paw Patrol and My Little Pony, went to see a movie (Ferdinand), drove through Tanglewood Festival of Lights where the two of them were in complete awe of the lights and sights. We played and ate at Chick Fil-A, and we snuggled a whole lot. I loved spending time with them and I really miss them when they aren't around. It is wonderful being a Grammy. Becoming a mother was the greatest gift I was ever given. The second greatest gift is becoming a Grammy!! I sure am hoping for lots more Littles!