Oh, The Festivities

Christmas, and the days leading up to it, have always seemed to be very busy and a bit on the hectic side for us. This year was no exception. The weekend started on Friday night for us, the night of our two year anniversary. Eric had to work
during the day, unfortunately, but the extra time alone proved useful as it took almost 2 hours to curl my hair! Eric arrived home with a beautiful bouquet of yellow roses, and after a hello and a kiss, we were off to The Olive Garden for a relaxing dinner. After dinner we headed to Edwards to catch a movie with some friends and family. I let Eric pick the movie this year so, surprise surprise, we ended up seeing Mission Impossible! I have to admit though, I really enjoyed it, maybe not as much as I would have enjoyed a movie like, New Year's Eve for example, but it was good and it was especially nice that we were able to share the night with some close friends. 

Christmas Eve was very relaxing, as we both had the day off and were able to lounge around in our PJ's for most of it! We met up with Nichole, Joey, Garrett, and dad at Calvery Chapel in the early evening to start off our Christmas Eve night together. After the service, we went back to dad's house, where we were very surprised and excited to see that Santa

Claus had come while we were at church and filled all of our stockings, even a cute little puppy one for Chloe! We decided to start with dinner since I was pretty much starving, then we opened presents. I got to be the 'present passer outer' this year, complete with hot pink Santa hat! Everyone had a great time opening and giving gifts. There were a lot of fun surprises and it was just a nice easy night for everyone!

The next morning was a bit of an early one. The bummer about going out and getting married is, come Christmas morning you don't get to just roll out of bed and go upstairs half asleep in your jamies, with only half your face on and your hair in a lop-sided bun! I 'slept in' til about 7 then got outta bed and got ready for the sure to be busy day. We wanted to get to mom's
early because we just so happened to know what Santa would be dropping off for Garrett and we wanted to be there to see the look on his face. We walked in just in time, and boy did he look surprised! He has been asking for this long board for a few months now and was sure he wouldn't be getting it. I don't know much about long boards but this one was so cool, it even had Eric going bonkers! They couldn't wait
to go try it out but first we had the rest of the presents to get to. A family tradition of ours is that before any presents can be opened, we read the story of the birth of Jesus, and as it is read, one of us gets to put all the people in the manger scene as they are mentioned in the story. It's a tradition that I have always loved because it helps me to refocus and remember what Christmas is truly about. After we finished with the nativity scene, we opened our presents!
After breakfast and a few hours of just hanging out and chatting, Eric and I headed to Jana and Jake's to spend some time with the Bassetts! It is so wonderful to be around kids on Christmas day, they are all so excited about the presents and the paper and what is in their stocking and it's great because it seems to be the little things that interest them the most. At one point Jess was unwrapping a gift when he exclaimed, 'a box!!' He could not have been more thrilled that he had just unwrapped a box! I think he would have stopped there and been perfectly content had we not prompted him to actually open the box. It was much more hectic than our other two stops, with three little ones running around (and Ami looking board in her daddy's lap) and a little overwhelming to think that next year there will be two more added to the bunch, but it was still fun especially since all of us don't get
together very often all at the same time. After a quick stop at my grandparents' house, then one at Eric's grandparents', it was 9pm and we were ready for bed! It was a day full of family and smiles and warmth. I would be lying if I said I didn't miss the way Christmas used to be, before Nichole and I were married, before mom and dad were divorced. It was comfortable and predictable, two things I love! But I am slowly getting used to this new idea of Christmas; waking up with my wonderful husband instead of running to Nichole's room to tell her that
Santa has come! Actually showering and getting ready for the day instead of lounging in my PJs. Making Christmas Eve feel like Christmas morning and making Christmas morning just as special. Spending time with new friends like Eric's family and Mark and next year, Titus. The way Christmas used to be was nice, but this is nice too! And I'm excited for the many changing Christmases that life is sure to bring.

Mary did you know..

..that your baby boy would one day walk on water?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know, that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered, will soon deliver you.

Oh Mary did you know?

This song came on when I was driving to work yesterday and it really struck me. This might sound strange, but all the sudden it was truly remarkable to me that I am expecting a baby. I hadn't really thought about being pregnant during Christmas time, aside from the awesome perk of not having to wear a coat all the time because I have a built in furnace. But when this song came on, one of my very favorite Christmas songs though this is the first time I have head it this year, I received a whole new mind set. I started to think about Mary, and how scared she must have been. I thought about her having morning sickness and having to travel on a donkey when she was about as far along as I am. I thought about her discomforts and her fears. I thought about her giving birth in a stable. And I thought about how strong she must have been to completely trust our Heavenly Father that everything was as it should be and that everything would be OK. It's getting to that point where I am becoming increasingly more anxious and I'm starting to have really bad anxiety about the things that are going to happen that I don't fully understand with this baby. On Wednesday I sat down and for the first time actually thought about delivering this baby, it shook me up so bad I couldn't keep food down the rest of the day. I worry about how to set up the nursery and if I should go back to work or not and how everything is going to work financially. There is so much that is unknown, and for me that's really scary. But then I think about this song, and I think about Mary, of all the things she overcame and how strong she was and how much her baby boy blessed her life. Sometimes a slight change in perspective can be the best thing for a person. I feel very humbled and blessed, this holiday season, that I am pregnant and that I was given the opportunity to reflect on such an amazing woman and feel a little more connected with her than I ever have before.   

'But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.' Luke 2:19

Garrett Playing Some B-Ball (video below)

This is just a little video I made from Garrett's last game against Les Bois. He is number 15, look right under the basket about 7 seconds into the clip. He got a pretty awesome black eye from that kid elbowing him in the face, and just 30 seconds into the game too! But he quickly recovered and made 2 great baskets a little later on!

I'm so proud of how much he has improved and grown over the past two years! Knowing he has a game always gives me something to look forward to and going always seems to make my day a little better. Good job dude! I'm proud of you!

South vs Les Bois

A Night of Fun for Dad's Birthday

For those of you know my dad, you know that he loves spending time with his kids! With that in mind, we decided for his birthday this year we were going to do more of an event than individual gifts. After considering many different options, Nichole came up with the idea of going to the Botanical Gardens for their Garden aGlow that they do every year. Eric and I have never been able to go so we were pretty excited!!

We ordered some pizza for a quick dinner and ended up opening a gift after all at dad's, then headed to the Botanical Gardens. We waited in a long line of cars while listing to some old school hip hop and finally got a front row parking spot and headed in. It was VERY cold, but they were serving hot chocolate and apple cider that helped warm us a bit.

The highlight of the night was definitely getting to see a real live reindeer!! Prancer himself was there at the garden and we even got to take a picture with him!!

After walking around for a couple hours, we went back to dad's for some birthday cake and we even ended up helping him decorate his tree. It was a great night out with the family and I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful dad!!