"insert witty post title here"

**Christmas Eve**

I had a lovely migraine keeping me company most of the day. I did a lot sleeping to try and fend it off, it only half worked.

5pm~ Off to Christmas Eve service at our church with my man.

After that we were off to his parents for supper and gift opening.

We had this super yummy soup (no idea what it was but it was good) tasty little ham puff things, cheese, crackers, meat and a whole array of sweets spread out on the table all night, I mean what's a Christmas get together without food?

OH, I got this adorable little music box from his dad that he made for me, perfect place to keep the necklace I got from L-dub (he's gonna just love that I called him that on here, muahaha).  They coordinated their gifts without even realizing, nice!

**Christmas Day**

Church to start the day off

No Sunday school, extra music and Gil finished way early, her NEVER finishes early!

Off to my parents house for round two of stuffing our faces and more gift opening.

NoTe~ My family believes in LOTS of food! Minimum 3 meats and five side dishes, not to mention the myriad of candies, breads, dips and desserts left on the counter throughout the day to munch on. I ate soooo much food!

Gift opening was organized chaos.

OH, I got Steve Madden boots from my mom and dad...

LOVE them ~ OK, so I picked them out. =)

We played cards, shot guns, rode horses, played video games and just chit chatted about anything and everything.  Before we knew it it was 9:30 and people were packing up grumpy and tired children to get them home and in bed.


**White Christmas**
We did not have one =(
Yes, I'm one of those nuts who loves snow especially around this time of year.  It's magical somehow and just makes things feel "right". =)
random fact... did you know in Nebraska the chance for a white Christmas is 30%.  That's about once every three years.  The last white Christmas was in 2009 so that means next year we are due for snow on Dec 25. crossing my finger. ;)

**The day after Christmas**

I had to work... at 8 am... bummer.

The streets were deserted, it was like a ghost town driving to work.

The post office was closed... no mail.

The bank was closed... no deposit.

Every other company was closed... no phone calls.

On the Bright side~

My boss wandered back to our office about 10:30 am and said it was pointless for us to be there and sent us all home.

AND

We get to wear jeans to work all this week (I didn't see this email til this morning so I actually wore dress clothes today but I can still wear jeans Wed, Thur and Friday!)

**The Santa Situation**

I read a blog today where a mom vented about Santa Clause, it was good actually.

Christmas is so commercialized, kids are pummeled with Santa and Frosty and goofy songs and caught up with getting on some fat man's list...

I love the way Shauna put it on her blog.

(Christmas is...) the day that the One who made every single beautiful thing and who keeps my heart beating and keeps the stars in the sky and the blood flowing through my babies' veins, humbled Himself enough to restrict his powers, temporarily, and took on skin and bones and muscles and human breath.

Too often we too as Christians get caught up in the commercialized side of the holiday and forget what it's all about.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't put up decorations (I absolutely LOVE decorating for Christmas!)
I'm not saying you shouldn't exchange gifts.
and I'm not saying that it's wrong to let you kids believe in Santa, that's your choice.

I don't think I'll let my kids though.

I don't want presents and lights and packages under the tree to be their focus.

I want them to realize what this holiday is really about, if Christ was never born then he never would have died and we would never have been offered this great gift of salvation.

That's what I want to impress on their little minds without the distraction of flying deer and red suits and getting on the right list.
I'm not trying to be a scrooge.

I'm a sucker for a little Christmas "magic" and I love the hub-bub and chaos that ensues this time of year.  It's fun and addicting.
Just don't get so caught up in it that you lose focus.


But I spose this can be applied all throughout the year as well.  There are so many distractions in this world to pull our focus away from where it should be, holidays only magnify those distractions.


**Boot Camp**
(yes, I know this last one is random... sorry, it's how I operate)
One of my roomies convinced me to sign up for boot camp with her.
I'm not sure what I was thinking.
It's only four weeks and we are supposed to start Jan 30.
well... three weeks hard core and one week of recovery/yoga.
it's at 5:45 am.
REALLY not sure what I was thinking.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Hopefully I survive to tell you all.
=)