The Day After Christmas 2014

We got up this morning, and made a big breakfast. A big CHRISTMAS breakfast. Joshua asked me 5 or 100 times when Holly and Aaron would be here, and to quote his famous response to all the questions his grandmother routinely asks him, I told him,"I don't know, Mammaw...I don't know."

And then I swurrr I had just put the last food item away and cleaned everything up and had the dishwasher running, and Clark came in and said, "when's lunch?"

Seriously?

So I got everything out for lunch. And, as we were sitting at the table, Joshua said, "when are Holly and Aaron gonna be here?" And I responded, "I don't know, Mammaw...I don't know."

Then Jim came into the kitchen and said, "heard from Holly and Aaron?" And I said, "yes." He said, "where are they?" And I said, "I don't know." And he said, "when will they be here?" And I said, "I don't know." And I must've said it kind of huffy, because he said, "I just think you would KNOW when we should expect them." So I said, "I don't know, Mammaw...I don't know."

But Holly finally texted that they were home...they had to pick up their gifts and check on things at home, and said they would be right over.

And even tho I had chicken and dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, asparagus, spinach salad, rolls, chili (with AND without beans), ham and cheese sandwiches, buffalo chicken cheese dip, sausage balls, cheese dip, hot dip, meatballs, Texas caviar, cake balls, peanut clusters and several different kinds of cookies...there was still nothing here Aaron-the-son-in-law would eat.

Holly texted me from the drive-thru line at Slim Chickens.

Once they got here and everyone had eaten their (first or second) lunch...we gathered in the family room for the "tranditional" (Joshua's words) reading of Luke 2. Typically, each of our children read 7 verses, and Joshua starts things off.

Because we can't hear "Qwy-REAR-eee-ous was governor of Sy-REAR-eee-ah" (Luke 2:2) enough.

No ma'am, we can not.

He also says that Mary wrapped baby Jesus in "snuggly clothes" and put Him in the manger.

After Joshua was done, it was Holly's turn. Joshua always wants her to read the part about the angels, because he calls Holly his "Christmas Angel Sister," since she was born at Christmastime.

After Holly was done, it was Logan's turn, and he read and read and read. Clark finally interrupted him, because Logan not only read HIS verses, he was now reading all of CLARK'S verses. Clark shot Logan a glare as he read the ONE VERSE Logan saved for him, and Logan just collapsed in laughter.

And that's how we lost the sacredness of the moment.

Well, all but Joshua.

As soon as Clark finished, Joshua said, "and now the deacon of the family will pray," and nodded his head toward Jim.

Jim put his coffee down and sat up straight to pray, but Joshua said, "we will all stand...and hold hands."

And you know what? We all stood...and held hands.

And then we opened presents. Joshua was happy to help hand them all out. He had the best Christmas. We are blessed with really thankful and content children. I had to INSIST that they make out a list for me...not that they would get everything on the list. I just needed some ideas.

Joshua's list consisted of notebooks, pens, a wolf calendar...and a "red and a blue tank top in a bigger size than the ones Mammaw gave him."

Clark and Faith got him the wolf calendar, and he was thrilled. Holly and I found a wolf pillow at the old Garden Ridge (can't think of the new name), and we got it for him. He was so excited!

After presents, we had more snacking and someone mentioned that there was a Harry Potter-a-thon on, and we turned the TV on to watch. My kids all love Harry Potter.*

*I was one of those moms who was very cautious about the whole Harry Potter series in the beginning. I am not a fan of witchcraft or sorcery, when it comes to actual people doing it.  I don't even put out ghosts or witches for Halloween decorations because I am THAT leery of the whole evil spirit world and all of that. I 100% believe in demons. My kids also never let me forget that they weren't allowed to watch certain Disney movies, like Snow White, just because of the witchy, evil part of it. Holly read the Harry Potter books as part of her Accelerated Reading program back when she was in school because she really enjoyed them...and because they were worth so many points, and that's how I first started to investigate them. I think there a lot to think about when it comes to what our kids read and watch, and I am 100% behind parents and their rights to make those choices for their own families...just like we did. My kids are all "adults" now, and they are fully secure with their walk with God and their salvation experiences. 

Holly casually mentioned that she'd seen a pin on Pinterest on how to make Harry Potter wands out of chop-sticks and glue.

Well, Joshua doesn't use chop-sticks, but he saves them. He has a collection of them that he's saved from every Chinese restaurant we've ever eaten in in his whole life.

And I have a glue gun.

And I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, but those kids...all 7 of them...sat around my kitchen table and took turns with the glue gun, and painted and decorated those pretend wands for 3-4 hours.

They talked and they laughed. Together.

Jim and I watched them from the family room, and it made me so happy! Even Joshua participated!

So, yes...while another family we know was probably looking up the different names of Jesus and calligraphy-ing them on a large canvas to go over their fireplace...and, NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT AT ALL...my family was making pretend Harry Potter wands out of chop-sticks and glue.

So, there's that.

We only had one injury...glue shot out of the glue gun and landed on Clark's leg. He was wearing shorts, and used his hand to swat the glue off...and now he has one really bad burn on one leg, and a minor burn on the other leg and on his hand.

Love my family.

"...be content with such things as your have. For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'" Hebrews 13:5