Christmastime Is Here!

Well for the first time ever Christmas came to us this year! I'm not sure how we managed it, but somehow we convinced Mom and Dad T. to fly in as well as the Whipple clan to drive over for Christmas at our house. It was sooo awesome of them! My pictures don't do it justice (I hope we had the video camera running more), but it was fun to have everyone there and the good ole' Christmas chaos. Ken and I really enjoyed having everyone there and we did lots of fun things together (see future blogs). A. was sad when his cousins had to leave and just sat there on the piano bench looking out the window as everyone drove off. It was a new experience being hostess and sadly I really didn't live up to the task very well. I was feeling pretty sick most of December and it was all I could do to keep the place clean - especially with teaching Joy School and Music Makers that month for the preschoolers. I never did get anything hung on the wall above the couch, or a thousand other little Christmastime projects. Still, our family is great and I don't think they mind if my house isn't perfect (or at least were kind enough not to notice for my sake!). Yet I have been so scatter-brained that had Lynn and Mom not been there we probably would have eaten Cheerios and hot-dogs for dinner every night. Had Dad not been there the dishes would have rotted away and some mysterious elf even folded my basket of clean laundry that had been sitting downstairs for days. I sure was taken care of, but I do wish I could have been the one doing a little more serving for the people I love. I guess thats what its about - learning to give and learning that sometimes we have to recieve. I'm determined to do better next time though, if I can convince anyone to come stay with us again! I'm so thankful for Mom, Dad, Lynn, Chad and the kids for coming. I know Christmas is never the same when you are away from home (trust me we've done it a lot), but that special celebration of Christ invites the same spirit no matter where you are I think. Thank you fam for filling our house with extra Christmas joy this year!