This Christmas was beautiful and busy and lovely and crazy, a study in contrasts for sure. We tried really hard to limit the amount of driving all over creation we did on Christmas day, but somehow I still ended the day so exhausted that I fell asleep on the couch at 8:30pm. Party animal, let me tell you.
We kicked off the festivities a few days before Christmas (
or possibly a few weeks before) with "Friday night double-features" (
so dubbed by Adam), wherein we showed two Christmas movies in our back-yard for neighborhood kiddos
(and adults who are kids at heart) every Friday night. We served Adam's delicious and spicy chili, and popcorn and hot chocolate.
Then we brought as many kiddos as we could fit in our cars to camp for Christmas at camp, which is always perfectly lovely - even when it's absolutely freezing outside! We rounded out our pre-Christmas festivities with a big Christmas party for 20+ kids, complete with a Christmas-photo-booth, Christmas karaoke, and a dirty Santa gift exchange. It was super-fun, and I especially loved watching the kiddos fight over the hot cheetos and takis we wrapped up for the gift exchange.
Christmas eve, we delivered the baskets to the cicu, which is always both hard and redemptive for me, particularly as I watched Zack peek through the doors into the cicu and hold Caden close while he tried to squirm down and acted every bit the normal 18 month old boy. I was reminded, once again, of how blessed we were (
and are) to be surrounded by a beautiful community of believers and friends who supported us and who helped enable us to love on the families spending Christmas in a really hard place (
not to mention all the amazing nurses and doctors). Seriously, we cannot thank you enough.
We hosted Christmas eve dinner at our house this year, particularly helpful in getting rid of leftovers because we always have extra guests popping by for a plate-ful or two. At one point Adam looked at me and told me how much fun he was having (
he's an extrovert and people-person to the core) and how grateful he is that we have families who like each other, live near each other, and who support and encourage our crazy little life in the hood. I agreed wholeheartedly, particularly as we opened a plethora of generous gifts and watched family help do the dishes and clean up while we fed neighborhood kiddos and put our own babies into bed.
Christmas morning started when Adam came into our room (
where he had sent me with strict instructions not to come out until morning), at about 12:25am and announced that it was Christmas and he wanted to show me my gift. I had been hearing all manner of drilling and hanging and hammering and what-not, so to say I was curious would be an understatement. When I opened our barn door, I saw the most beautiful new light-fixture he had made for me hanging above our dining table. He came up with it, designed it, and created it completely himself. He used 2 old wagon wheels, and old wood from another house in our neighborhood. The thing is HEAVY (
forty pounds apparently), and he hung it using cool rope that should hopefully hold it up there securely for a very long time! Are y'all as impressed as I am by the best DIY chandelier ever?!
I'll have to have him do a Stanley Man post about how he did it for y'all. You know, since we've been so faithful to do Stanley Man posts and all. New goal for 2013: have Adam post more.
I went back to bed after oohing and aahing over my new light for a few minutes, only to
pop crawl out of bed again bright and early to watch our sweet babies play with their new toys and open the one or two gifts we got them (
dont worry, they weren't wanting for gifts courtesy of the grandparents). We spent the day eating and laughing and feeling thankful for how many beautiful gifts we have been given, in more ways than one.
And then once Christmas was over, we breathed a great big sigh of relief because we had about three whole days with nothing on the schedule. Regardless of all the busy, life was enjoyable and beautiful and celebratory as we remembered Christ's birth and celebrated his coming.
