Christmas, 2013

Here comes the bride, our beautiful princess.  Daddy can wait a long time on this one for real, but we're okay so long as it is pretend for quite some time.  Madison feels the same way.  Doesn't she look wonderful in her new dress though?  This was a costume that Santa brought us, one we'll have to thank him for later - there is glitter all over the house right now.  The floors in the kitchen and great room shimmer in the light, as if you're entering some sort of heavenly place!

Christmas morning started later again - if you can believe that.  Mommy and Daddy were up before Madison was.  Part of this may have to do with the late night we had at Nana and Ye-Ye's house.  Madison slept in until about 8:00, and that's when she woke up with a start.  Running into the hallway, she looked down and sure enough:  there were presents under the tree.  Lots of presents!

This package looks suspiciously about as big as the one that a Disney Infinity comes in.  And there was one of the less-than-subtle themes of the day:  Disney Infinity.  Madison got all sorts of characters and discs and play sets for the game, which we of course started playing Christmas night.  But there were plenty of other presents too, including this one from Daddy:

All that wrapping paper below her is from the present that she's still trying to open up.  It was thirty individual layers, each one of a different sort of wrapping paper.  Madison was still trying to figure it all out:  why would anyone do such a thing?  But you can see she thought it was funny too - each time she thought it would be the last layer:  no, there was still another.  It started out reasonably larger, and ended up the size of a Disney Infinity power disc.  Finally!

Daddy took a lot of pictures this morning, and a lot of them looked just like this one:

Madison's face all morning long just makes it all worth it.  She was so giddy!  She paced herself too, not ripping one open after another.  She sort of wanted to make it last - which it did.  Mommy and Daddy opened their presents too, and had a wonderful Christmas morning together.  Outside, it was in the twenties, temperature-wise.  Daddy had a fire in the fireplace, and several Christmas CDs playing as we spent time together under the tree.

Madison turned to us at one point, and announced simply, "I am spoiled!"  Yes, she is.  We try to not spoil her, but on Christmas morning, that's a little tough.

Around noon, we got ready to go over to Nana and Ye-Ye's house.  We had their presents packed up from before, but brought along some cake too.  When we arrived, there was G-Gma (our slang for Great Grandmother), and the rest of the family - and everyone was ready to open presents again!

Cousins David Austen and Jonathan serve as honorary Santas, delivering the presents in piles to each recipient, and soon the carnage was taking place.  Wrapping paper flying everywhere as all the kids gasped and giggled at their newfound gifts.  Madison got a few games for her Leapster Explorer, and some more Barbie movies.  We all got some nice things to enjoy over the holidays, in fact.  Lots of movies and games and music.

We had dinner after that, and then dessert as well.  Both were fantastic, with ham and roast pork and all kinds of incredible desserts and candies.  We sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus once again, as Hannah and Nana blew out the candle in the cake.

There was another activity we did, a new tradition of exchanging gag gifts.  This year, we had a few funny gifts to put out there - the game was fun as always.  Everyone was "stealing" this or that, one of the highlights being a Duck Dynasty garden gnome that Mommy and Daddy spotted several months ago.  It was July or August that we saw it on clearance, and thought to ourselves how perfect it would be for this gag gift exchange.  And it turned out right:  this was one fought after gift!  As for the other gift we brought, it was actually just as revolting as last year... everyone forgot about this little gem, and it was quite a shock to see him return.  Moo-ah-ah-ah!  He went home with the Berry family this year, so this disturbing little clown has been taking a tour over the past few years.  I'm sure we'll all see it again!

After a time, we were all ready to go.  Christmas had come and gone once more, shockingly quick this year.  Some say it was because of the reduced time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, some six days shorter - almost a full week less.  And yet we still start in this house a lot earlier, just about the first of November.  We need to, or else we feel things might get a little rushed.  No, the reason is just simply time slipping away from us all.

We went home, the three of us, and finally played Disney Infinity.  For too long, I must admit.  Madison and Daddy were having a lot of fun tonight, so much that Mommy actually went to bed before the two of us.  But we did get to sleep around ten or so, pretty much exhausted from the full day.  It was a cold Christmas (no snow though), but it was a warm one inside the home.  We still remain blessed and highly favored.  Merry Christmas!

Here's our last entry in the "25 Days of Christmas Movies" devotional series.  In honor of Annette:

DECEMBER 25 - "Babes in Toyland"

In “Babes in Toyland,” Mary Contrary has a problem. It doesn’t have to do with her garden, but it does have to do with Little Bo Peep’s sheep. As you might have guessed, they’re lost. But this time, they’ve somehow wound up in the Forest of No Return!

Without the sheep, she’ll have no money – and without any money, she’ll have to marry old Silas Barnaby. He’s such a wicked man that a group of children set out to find those sheep, no matter the risk. They’ll do whatever it takes to find them, and save Mary!

Some time ago, Jesus himself told a parable about looking for a lost sheep. He spoke of a shepherd’s love, and how that shepherd would leave a large group of ninety-nine sheep just to go out and find that lost one.

He was speaking about Himself. He was also speaking about you. We once were lost, but now are found – all because of His birth in Bethlehem. You see, without Him, we’d be worse off than being stuck in a Forest of No Return. Yet He saw our predicament, and came to our rescue. The Good Shepherd is calling out to His sheep. He’s given you the greatest gift of all at Christmas: all you have to do is accept it, and find your way.