So I know this is a little late to be wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, but our lives around here have been so busy and crazy that blogging has been on the back burner.
This may be a long one but here is attempt to catch you up.
Christmas 2009
I was really excited about this Christmas. Cole was 17 months, walking and talking, and really soaking up so much knowledge that he would be into it this year and be excited. We had so many plans. Everything had to go just perfect to pull it all off. It all seemed so great and Cole would be up and happy for all our Christmas stops.
We also were trying to figure out what Christmas would look like for our family of 3+. How do we begin to teach our active 17 month old the true meaning of Christmas? How do we fit in seeing all of our family and friends, but still getting that intimate immediate family time and enjoy the just us times? Do we incorporate Santa or not? These questions have been running through my head for some time now, and still I don't have all the answers. Luckily, Cole is still young enough not to ask too many questions, but soon he will absolutely be aware and we need to be ready with answers and valid ones. We are to guide our son. The Lord has placed him in our care to train up in the way he should go. It is our responsibility. My hope for Christmas 2010 is to have some of my questions answered, to have a plan, and to have activities ready to teach Cole about the birth of our Savior.
Family Gatherings
Our Christmas holiday started the Friday before. My (LA) parents arrived at our house so they could help us build the swing set we bought and they help buy for Cole for Christmas. I had already sorted all the nuts, bolts, screws and lumber the weekend before and it still took 9 hours and 3 adults to put it all together. So we definitely needed the help.
That Wednesday, before Christmas, we celebrated with my brother's family at our house. Mom cooked the traditional dinner of turkey and ham and all the fixings. It was delicious! And all 3 boys were given tricycles. Cole loves to just wear his helmet around the house. So funny.
The next morning was Christmas Eve and we left for College Station to celebrate with Brent's family. We had to leave fairly early because we had built all of our nephews child-size picnic tables for one of their presents and had to hide it from their parents before they arrived.
Well earlier that week (the Tuesday morning before Christmas), our nephew Brody came down with a virus but was feeling better. Until we got their we didn't realize that Larra, his mom, had gotten it too. **That Tuesday night, Brent and I asked for prayer at our home group that Brody would recover quickly and that his 5 month old brother would not get sick too. That prayer worked! We didn't know that there was more to pray for...keep reading.**
Long story short, we didn't understand how contagious this virus was or we would have not come in contact with anyone else for days. By Christmas Eve, Brent's brother and mom had it. We didn't have our normal Christmas morning of breakfast and gifts. Everyone sick was in bed and we didn't want to celebrate without them. We weren't sure if we should go to our other family gathering because we didn't know if we had the virus or not. But they told us to come on of course. So we did. We had lunch at 1pm with one side of the family and dinner at 5pm with the other.
By the end of the weekend, about 22 people had gotten the virus. This thing was serious. It was horrible. It was clearly air-borne.
Nothing went as planned. It was not fun or exciting. It will not be forgotten.
It was Sunday, two days after December 25th. The tree was still up, no presents were open. Brent and I needed to go home Sunday afternoon, because my parents had Cole at home and dad had the virus too, so we needed to help him and take care of our son.
Well...we learned this year that our plans aren't perfect. We learned that Christmas isn't just a date on the calendar, but when you are able to be with your family and celebrate the birth of Jesus.
New Year's
On Thursday, we headed back to College Station (New Year's Eve) to celebrate Christmas with Brent's family healthy, well, and excited. We played games like we planned to do on Christmas Eve and woke up the next morning to celebrate together. We didn't have to rush anywhere and the kids got to play. It was great.
I want more Christmas' like that minus the virus of course. I never want that again. And I am pretty sure our family will tell us NOT to come if we even think we are sick.
