Christmas Day Fun with Family

Christmas morning began with a cup of coffee and good conversation with my friend, Cheri. Randy & I stayed with Lee & Cheri over the weekend through Christmas Eve. They are such wonderful friends and have often graciously opened their home to us. Cheri and I share a fantastic friendship and I am so grateful to have her in my life. It was a nice way to start Christmas Day.

After lots of hugs and kisses (and getting a Cracker Barrel gift card!), we left Lee, Cheri and their kids, Courtney and Marty, about 8:45am to head to Lindsay's house to start the melee of Christmas presents and fun. Of course, Randy had to get the car battery jumped first because it had died!! Guess we'll be getting a new car battery for Christmas! I guess I should say KEVIN will be getting the battery because it's his car we're using! Ah, the joys of car ownership.

We got to Lindsay's after they had already had their family Christmas; Reagan was in full, gift-opening mode! :) At almost 2 1/2 years old, she has got this down pat. We brought their presents down and preceded to sit back and watch Reagan go to it. How fun!! There is something so very special about watching your child mother her child. Jason, Lindsay & Reagan are a beautiful family and we are so proud of them. Reagan seemed to be thrilled with everything Pop and Nana had gotten her. Two of the big hits were a virtual aquarium and a set of tools with a tool belt and toolbox. She was so excited!

At the risk of continuing to repeat myself - and I can, because this is MY blog after all! - I am so very grateful to be a part of my children's lives. Randy & I share in all of their joys, sorrows, accomplishments and the everyday stuff of life. I try to take a moment every day, often right before I go to sleep, to thank God for the privilege of being their Mom and Nana. All of our children are in healthy relationships, and we have two healthy grandchildren. What more can a woman ask for??

Lindsay & Jason were going to spend the day with Lindsay's dad's family so we headed off to my sister, Paula's, house where her clan and my folks were going to be. That always means craziness and laughter - lots of laughter! And the best present is that our nephew, Joe, who lives in California, was going to be there, too! We also were going to celebrate our niece, Megan's, engagement. So much to be thankful for this year.

We ended our day back at Lindsay's with a computer call to Kevin & Sara in Korea - complete with video! It was about 10:30pm which meant it was 12:30pm on the 26th for Kev & Sara. It was so good to see them! They are having a blast together and Sara is getting inundated with the Army life. It was bittersweet talking with them because, of course, I would much rather them be home with us, but this was the next best thing. I'm glad they are together.

What a wonderful day we had. I hope that you, too, were surrounded by friends, family, and good feelings. I thank God for sending us His Son, Jesus, to offer us eternal life and that we are able to celebrate His birth. I'm grateful we serve a gracious, loving Father.

We have two more family Christmas gatherings before our season is over. This Saturday my family will all get together at Lindsay's and then we'll spend Sunday at our other daughter, Ginny's. Then, we can say good-bye to Christmas 2007.

Until the next time . . .