Christmas

I have to say that this Christmas was one of the best I have had in a long time. The reasons being; A. It was so nice to have someone to share it with - Jeff, of course. B. Kaleb, Karlie and I were blessed by a family downstate who "adopted" us. They sent the kids several gifts, and I received a couple of things myself. They would not have had much to open Christmas morning if it weren't for the generosity and kindness of this family. C. I got to spend this Christmas with my kids, my mom, my nephew, my sister-in-law, and her two kids, Cory and Gary. D. All of the Christmas music at Jeff's church, and the programs, just really made it feel like Christmas this year. Speaking of Christmas programs...Christmas Eve service at Jeff's church was wonderful. He sang in the choir and it was a true joy watching him. But, on the funny side...yes there is a funny side...I ended up sitting with one of the college girls, Heidi, and her family, since the choir sang for the whole program and I wouldn't be sitting with Jeff. Well, Heidi has an awesome sense of humor! Before the service really got going, Heidi pointed out that we'd be using flashlights, yes flashlights, for the "candlelight" service. That just set her off on "welcome to our flashlight service" jokes, which got our whole pew laughing our heads off. Poor Jeff is up in the choir loft, noticing how our pew is laughing, he's trying to compose himself, being the mature, responsible man that he is, but he is having a hard time not laughing as well. And he didn't even know what we were laughing at!!! He could just see all of us laughing. But by the end of the service, we were able to maintain ourselves and behave maturely, for the most part, at least. Then Christmas morning, Jeff, all of my children, my mom and my nephew, Dustin, came over for Christmas Breakfast. Everyone left by 11:30 for other Christmas events to attend, so Jeff and I were able to go to some friends he works with for Christmas lunch. That was an afternoon of relaxing fun, eating more food, and watching 3 year oldish little girls run around and just be 3 year old little girls. It was cute. The dads took the little ones outside to go sledding in the back yard, which entailed the dads pulling the girls on the sleds because there is no hill. One of the dads even convinced the older daughter to pull an empty sled around the shoveled out track they made! That was pretty cute! Then around 4:00 Jeff decided he needed to get home to Rose, his parents dog he is taking care of while they are out in Oregon. So, we went to his house and hung out the rest of the evening there. Then Sunday was church, and we attended most of first service at my church, and headed to his church for the 10:30 service. Jeff didn't have to sing at the beginning of service, like normal, so he got to sit with me for the beginning, then the choir went up and sang for the end of the service. As usual, they did an excellent job. Like I said before, I really enjoyed all the Christmas carols and music this year at Jeff's church. Our church usually does one Christmas Carol during our praise and worship service. So, being that neither of our churches are having their normal services this week, Jeff and I got to spend alot of time together this weekend, which was great, since he just got off of the evening shift just prior to Christmas Eve, and I was really missing him! Plus, he was off for 5 days in a row! Now he's back on days, so we get to spend some time together during the evenings, but not too late, as we both have to get up for work early, and he has to tend to Rose the dog. Speaking of Rose, she is sooo cool. She's a border collie, and is so well behaved. She is 11 years old, and loves to play ball. She makes you work for it! Instead of putting the ball next to you, she intentionally puts it just slightly out of reach, so you have to get up, or bend over to find the ball, just so you can throw it and do the whole process over again. It's really quite fun, for a while. Then we (Rose and I) get tired of playing ball, and she lays down for a while. Then the whole process starts again.
Well, that's enough of my Christmas story for now.