It was all I had hoped for and more.....

It is two days after Christmas and I am feeling the “Peace on Earth” for now. I love getting up late (7:30), drinking coffee while the homemade cinnamon rolls that were a gift are heating up and watching “The Today Show” in my PJ’s. I feel so blessed remembering the fun week that has just ended:

* Jim, Amanda and I taking our three precious granddaughters to the mall to play on the indoor playground castle, ride the carrousel 2 times, go ice skating (Abby’s first time) and just enjoy the sights and sounds of Christmas. I don’t know that I have ever spent 4 hours at the mall and bought nothing but 2 ornaments and had so much fun!
* Watching “White Christmas” with Jim and Erika, who sings every word of every song!
* Beginning my shopping on an all-day spree – non-stop!
* Watching “Little House on the Prairie” Christmas videos and Stephanie P. recalling other favorite episodes that she watched growing up.
* Spending the evening at the Cappers for food, fellowship and making good memories for some guys who have nothing but bad memories of Christmas.
* Watching “It’s a Wonderful Life”
* Finishing the last of my shopping on Christmas Eve afternoon
* Picking up Nathan from the airport on Christmas Eve afternoon – he’s been in France for 3 months and will be here for a week! What a wonderful Gift!
* Singing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus with the grand-girls and family who had gathered, followed by the Christmas story being read, carols being sung, Christmas memories being told and gifts being exchanged.
* I still can’t get over the fact that it actually SNOWED on Christmas Eve day and night! The kids (old and young) having a snowball fight – ok, they did have to scrap the snow off of the cars because it never accumulated on the ground, but hey, we take what we can get!
* Watching “Miracle on 34th Street”
* Going to the Woods home at 5:30 on Christmas morning to put our “turducken” in their oven so I would have room and time for 4 casseroles in my oven. (They were not home, so don’t worry – I didn’t wake anyone up!) THEN going back home and going back to sleep!
* Waking up later on Christmas morning not to more “presents” but the “presence” of family and friends, drinking coffee and eating Pecan Spins and laughing together.
* Cooking and then sharing lunch with 20 or so family and friends and giving thanks that this is what I really like about Christmas.
* Having 4 of the guys take our left-overs to “The Next Step” to 6 or so guys who were having baloney sandwiches for Christmas lunch and still bring some back – reminds me of the fishes and loaves of bread in the Bible.
* Going to the movie with friends and family and sharing a Diet Coke with Amanda while watching “Fat Albert.”
* Coming home to having a “Tiara Night” with Erika, Amanda, and Tracey. Jim and David C. were “honorary Princesses” only for a “Kodak Moment.”
* Watching “Sound of Music” before going off to bed after a wonderful day!
* The highlight of the day AFTER Christmas was gathering with our Bomar House Church for a Pancake Supper and Worship.

I am sad that this holiday season that I so dearly love is actually a sad time for so many. Oh, I surely understand and have had seasons in my life that were somewhat akin to theirs. I guess that is one reason I try so hard to make Christmas memories throughout the season so that deposits in their “memory-bank” of good memories can be made. Even this year, in the midst of good things, my heart is saddened by things in my own life that, try as I may, I can’t fix. But life goes on……

So, 2 days later, I still am basking in the joy that I have felt through the last few weeks. I love having a job that gives me the week off after Christmas! And yet, as we look to the New Year, there are new things to focus on:

* We, once again, have joined Weight-Watchers! It is so much easier when we do it as a family!
* On the “Today Show” I learned about a new game, “Google-whacking.” I jumped right into it and after about only 10 minutes, I actually “google-whacked.”
* Wondering what our church is going to look like this year – I hate thinking and planning and strategizing…..I know it is necessary, but I would much rather someone tell me what to do, and knowing it is the right thing to do, just do it! It’s easier to me to lose weight than figure out how to do something new.
* Wondering what God is going to do in my life this year! As good things as well as sad things continue to unfold, I can only trust that God is doing His best to work out something to our Good even when it is hard to see where and how that may be.

Just as wonderful as it is to recall the beauty and the mystery of the birth of the Christ Child, there were very unpleasant, even scary things that surrounded it. And knowing that the ultimate purpose in His being born was for Him to die seems so wrong, and yet it was so right. I just hope as things get worse before they get better I can trust a loving God who always sees and knows things that I don’t see or know. I am thinking right now that this may be one of the scariest years I have ever entered knowing of things to come, but one that I trust and pray that will ultimately result in Life and Faith and the “Peace on Earth” that the “Prince of Peace” came to bring.