Christmas

Ok, so once again I'm behind on my blogging, but hey, better late than never, right!?

Christmas this year was at our house. We've never had a house (or a place big enough to hold a family Christmas), so this year was a special one.

Ryan's mom flew into town December 21. We spent the first several days of her trip shopping and wrapping. After I got off of work on Christmas Eve (sidenote- you'd be surprised at how many people came in to get their eyes checked on Christmas Eve--I guess not everyone waits until the last minute to finish shopping like I do), we went to the Christmas Eve service at church. We then headed home for our array of appetizers: chips and queso (a tradition I grew up with) as well as, crackers, cheese and cream cheese covered in strawberry preserves. It was so good!

On Christmas morning, Ryan and I exchanged our presents to one another, as well as opened our stockings with Ryan's mom. Ryan had a prepared a Bible study for us to go through together to help turn our minds to the reason we celebrate--the birth of Jesus Christ our Lord.

We then went to see the movie, Enchanted. I was skeptical about it, but we all really enjoyed it. Brandon, Jill, Joshua and Aby drove up from Nashville that night and arrived in time for the lavish dinner that Ryan worked so hard to prepare. We all sat down to an elaborate feast of Honeybaked ham, turkey, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, roasted potatoes, pistachio pudding and of course, Sister Schubert's dinner rolls. I gained five pounds just now thinking about it.

Anyway, after the kids went to bed, we all played Mexican Train (dominoes).

The next morning, we woke up, had an apple sausage casserole for breakfast and then opened our Christmas presents. Such sweet memories of watching everyone open presents. A personal favorite of mine was watching Jill open her "moon bag", which was a makeshift present until her real gift arrived. Jill, you're so sweet and such a good sport!

We then headed up to our church lawn to play some Bocce ball. Unfortunately, our game was cut short due to all of the mud on the ground. After making a trip to Indiana for a Mexican lunch, we drove back home. Brandon, Jill, Joshua, Aby and Mom all packed their things and loaded in the car to head back to Nashville. It was sad that they were only able to stay for such a short time, but we were just thankful to see them at all.

Ryan's mom stayed with Brandon and Jill for about a week, and then we met them in Bowling Green to pick her up. Her flight out was the next day, so we didn't get more much time together, but our time was sweet nonetheless.