Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas full of family and friends. Overall my Christmas was good a good one filled with family and friends, it was one of those times where I reminded myself to just take everything as it comes and just smile and laugh. My Christmas celebrations started on Christmas Eve with lunch at Uncle Jimmy's, which proved to be one of the moments where I just had to smile a lot, but I am glad we went over there and saw that side of my family since I don't really see them except for holidays b/c my dad is a little anti-family social at times. Dad, Marsha and I literally only ate lunch over there and left - we took our presents for that side of the family but we didn't stay to exchange them. After we left my uncle's I headed off to church without my dad and Marsha in toe, oh well there is always next year. But I actually didn't mind so much having to go to church without my family b/c SarahBeth, Jeremy, and I all ended up sitting together so we were our own little family. Since I have never been to a Christmas Eve service at Watermark, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect but I knew I would love it and I did - I honestly probably enjoyed it more than if I would have been in Wichita Falls. After church it was back to dad's house for me b/c he had cooked a really nice dinner for all of us including Maverick. After dinner we exchanged and opened presents. Once again my dad went overboard with his presents for me, but I excited about all of them and he was really creative with some of them this year.

On Christmas Day after a nice homemade breakfast by dad it was time to hit the road for Wichita Falls. For some of you this might seem weird that I travel on Christmas day but it is honestly the best way I have found to keep my parents happy and they both actually get to see me on Christmas. The drive really wasn't a bad one this year, and I am very thankful for that. I missed my mom and step dad by less than 10minutes at our house, so that meant I had to drive another thirty minutes out to my aunts (step dad's sister) where we were meeting to celebrate Christmas. As I arrived at my aunts house I notice something a little odd, my mom was sleeping in the chair and not sitting at the table - my mom had finally hit her exhaustion point of the past few days and literally couldn't keep her eyes open. While I completely understand how and why she got to that point it really made me sad that my mom slept most of the day on Christmas - so I actually only interacted with her for may-be two hours all day, but I promised myself I was just going to smile and take things in stride. I enjoyed the time at my aunts house because my older sister, her husband and my three nephews were all there, so it was nice to see all of them. One of my cousins and his wife were there with their son and then the new baby, which was just so much fun. Plus since they live out at the lake there is just so much for all the boys to do and lots of room for them to play - I think we all had a fun time playing. Christmas night it was back to my parents house for me to open my presents from that side of the family. Plus my favorite cousins all came over to celebrate Christmas and see me even though most of them had just been at my house the night before.

Overall it was a really good Christmas, while at times I did have to just smile. It was good for me because it taught me just to go with it, but more importantly in those moments where I just had to smile - I was able to remind myself of the true meaning of Christmas and the reason we celebrate it.

Happy Birthday Jesus! I hope it was a good one.