Christmas

Well, the holiday season has certainly bustled along. Hard to believe that Christmas has already happened and the glow of the season is coming to an end.

It's been different this season-- not bad but, truthfully, crazy. I have been working about 30 hours a week at my part-time retail job (oh the joys!) and so it has been challenging to find those quiet peaceful Christmas moments. I am very thankful for my job, as it has saved me financially in some ways, but the downside is that it has taken up lots of precious time. Oh well. I don't want to complain but more or less just state the facts-- that's just the negative side of having a retail job. ha... In addition to dealing with extremely rude customers ;-)

And the big but I have to remember is this: life will not always be this way. Not every Christmas season will be this way. Most of all, I need to remember that God gave me this part-time job to help cover expenses (in addition to substituting) so that I don't have to worry. He knows how much I worry about the finances. Because he knows what I need, He provides. For that, I am incredibly grateful.

That's the reality that I need to focus on. If you couldn't tell by my tone of writing already, it will be no surprise when I say that is has been difficult to remember His provision. I feel like I have been floating from one day to the next. It's good to live one day at a time but I think it's nice when they don't all blur together. Don't we all?

Anyway, on to something better than my yammering... Christmas was delightful! My family and I stayed overnight from Christmas Eve to Christmas morning with Granny. We have been doing this tradition for years. In addition to this tradition, we have a certain meal prior to going to Granny's church in the evening: we have chicken noodle and lentil soup (those are the choices), saltines, usually some fruit slices, Granny's delicious ribbon salad, and then cookies when we're all done. Yum! For the past two years I have had a major craving for Granny's ribbon salad.. it is sooooo good.

Church was extra enjoyable this year-- two of my aunts and their husbands came down, as did two cousins and the one cousin's husband. Needless to say, we took up an entire pew! And as usual, there was lots of chuckles throughout the service. We always get each other laughin'! It was particularly hard not to burst out hysterically when the choir sang at the wrong time. When the pastor spoke after the little mix-up he said, "Christmas is full of surprises!" haha So good.

After church, my family and I went back to Granny's place. We snacked some, attempted to recite the "Night Before Christmas," read some of her Christmas letters/cards, and watched the Yule log burn on TV. Somehow we managed to stay up past midnight. Santa had to come a lil bit later to her place ;-)

Christmas Day was delightful!! We looked through the goodies in our stockings and then opened Granny's presents. We had our substitute sweet rolls (Granny couldn't make her own sweet rolls this year due to recovering from her second break), which were thankfully pretty good. We enjoyed the morning and then eventually packed everything up to head north.

Around 4pm, we went up to my aunt and uncle's house for dinner. There were quite a few family members there so it was a blast. We all ate lots of good food, chatted with each other, laughed lots, drank some wine, opened presents, munched on a variety of sweets... Oh yes, and we popped poppers! haha Yes, at the end of dinner we all linked our pop-its together (they are the kind with the mini toys inside) and burst 'em open. Inside the poppers were tissue crowns, which we all proceeded to wear and look goofy. :)

Once the festivities at my aunt and uncle's house winded down, my family and I heading down the street to our house. We then opened our stockings and exchanged presents with each other. I'll be writing about some of my favorite items I recieved in another post!

Ah... wonderful Christmas. I hope that you all had a great day celebrating with your loved ones. Enjoy the last few days of 2010...