Merry Christmas

It is here...Christmas week.  Here is a picture of my first present....

 

Things to be thankful for on this day...everyone was ok.  Boy that hit me had insurance.  And now, I have a van that is unique to me.  No one else has one like it. :)  I felt like we were in slow motion when it happened.  I was sitting at a red light in a turn lane.  He was leaving the BP station.  He didn't see me, but I saw him coming.  There was no where that I could go and I saw him coming straight for David.  I was blowing my horn.  There for a second I thought he missed us, and then I felt that I was wrong.  Victoria slept thru it, David not so much.  But David was awake before it happened, and I am sure the sight of this big Tahoo's lights coming right at you had to be scary.  He had a little mark from the seat belts, and Ranita and I were a little sore, but all was well.  What was I most upset about? We missed our dinner that Stacey cooked for us.  I was really looking forward to it.

We had a photo session at grandmommy and granddaddy's house to get some fun first Christmas pictures. Here are a few.

This one brought back memories when they were too close before they were born.

She liked to sleep in the sleigh.

For Christmas eve we went to the candlelight service at my brother's church and then we all went back to mom and dad's. 

This wasn't Christmas Eve, but she did love to nap under the tree.

Mom and Dad

My twin nieces..too busy for a picture

My nieces shared their present full of dress up clothes

My brother got to play, too.

All this opening of gifts was too much for David

My nephew being a good big brother

Bama

Granddaddy time

I somehow didn't get a picture of Nancy at Christmas, so here is one from Cason's birthday

For Christmas morning, mom and dad come to get their stocking left from Santa.  This year, we had two extra stockings.  We had breakfast and then we opened our stockings.  David and Victoria, slept at different times, so we had Christmas with them at different times.  Victoria didn't even know that anything was going on.  David, when he saw his Santa pile, made a funny face and he kept his eyes wide open the whole time.  Then we played some Phase 10 and bowled on the wii for a little while.  We ended the night with Ranita putting together one of his puzzles from Santa.  And the babies spent time playing with their new gifts from Laura and Abby.

Santa left a little of his last cookie.

Santa knew just what daddy wanted.

David and Victoria had a special gift for dad.
A coffee mug with their photo

Victoria's side

David's side

Santa knew what kind of "candy" David likes in his stocking this year.

One last thought for Christmas week.  I was really sad to see one of my piano's go.  See Ranita knew how much I loved to play the piano, so one day he surprised me with a piano.  Then several years later, my brother was getting rid of our childhood piano.  I couldn't let it go.  So I had a small house with 2 piano's.  I knew that I should get rid of one, but I loved how pretty the piano Ranita got me was.  But I finally let it go.  It was taking up too much of D and V's playroom.   I was very sad to see it go, but I remembered something Alex told me.  See Alex was a little boy that used to spend all of his time with me and Ranita from the time he was about 9 years old.  We took him on trips with us, and he was with us every weekend.  Well, he graduated from high school a few years ago.  He asked us to come to his Senior art exhibit.  He is an amazing artist.  I was so impressed.  His comment to me was that I am the one that started his love for art.  I didn't understand. He said one of the first presents I gave him was an art set, and that is what got him started.  It is amazing how God can use us without us even knowing.  So I started thinking about the piano.  The man that we gave it to said that he has two daughters, and they are starting to get interested in music.  He hopes the piano will inspire them.  I hope so, too.  I may never know how God will use that piano with those girls.  I realize that sometimes we may not even realize how special a gift can be to someone.  I don't even remember buying that art set, but Alex remembers.  Be open to let God use you and your gifts.  You may never know the impact it had.