Christmas

I had a wonderful Christmas. Our Christmas Eve tradition includes going to my Grandparent's house in Hartselle. Several people will go to First United Methodist Hartselle and participate in the come and go communion before all the festivities start at my Grandmother's. Becca was insistent about going and since all three of us rode together I went too. Mom stayed in the car. Tuesday marked 2 weeks post-op from her partial knee replacement. She uses a walker to get around, but it would have been a good distance for her to walk including steps which are very difficult. Anyways, I went to communion and I prayed for us to have a nice and peaceful family gathering. I prayed that everyone would have self-control over their mouth, be pleasant to one another, and most of all remember what Christmas is all about. We ended up having one of the better family gathering in recent memory. I always exchange presents with my cousin Amy. Growing up we would do secret Santa, but that meant you might get a really great gift, a good gift, or a not so good gift. So when we were in high school we decided to break off from the others and give each other a gift ensuring we both got a good gift. Amy is getting married in March so getting her present was the easiest. Amy and Hayes don't have a lot to start their new life together. She has had one shower and got some things, but overall she is still missing a lot of the everyday kind of things that she will really need. So she got the 11 piece pyrex set she had registered for. Amy was ecstatic over the pyrex, and Hayes was pretty happy about it, too. I knew she would like the gift. She picked it out. I never would have thought she would have been that excited about the gift. I got this decorative thing that has a light bulb that when turned on will melt the scented wax above the light bulb. I love burning candles, but I am pretty picky about what smells I do or do not like. I have been using it today and the vanilla bean smells good. Vanilla might be plain, but it is my favorite scent. Another Christmas Eve tradition is to go to the 11:00 service at church. I remember being little and my parents would wake me up and take me in my pajamas. Sadly, you don't see kids in their pajamas at the service anymore. Now there are services at 4, 6, 8, and 11 so I guess the earlier times are more convenient for families with little kids. One day I will take my kids in their pajamas to the 11 service. My favorite part of the service is singing Silent Night at the end. Everyone has a small white candle and they cut all the lights off while we sing. It is a beautiful sight to see. It's Christmas by the time the service ends and it is a nice feeling to be in church when Christmas begins. Mom was determined to go to the 11 service so we took her and her walker to church. I was very happy to have her there. As a child I always tried to convince my parents that since it was officially Christmas that we should open presents when we got home. It never worked, but I always tried. We met up at my mom's on Christmas to exchange presents. Mom got a zester, a special kind of kitchen sheer which can shred boiled chicken, and an amazon gift card. She had bought herself the new kindle fire in early December. Becca got a colander and a vera bradley id key chain among other things. The big surprise was what was in the clear part of the id holder was a ring, but it wasn't just any ring. It was the engagement ring my dad gave my mom. Mom had given me the ring to wear several years ago, and I used to wear the ring often. However, in recent years I didn't wear it much. I have listened to Becca complain about me having the ring and not wearing it for years. She also complained that it wasn't fair that I had mom's engagement ring and my grandmother's engagement ring. So a couple of months ago I decided I would give Becca the ring and I would give it to her at Christmas. It worked out really well that she wanted the id holder. It proved to be a fun way to surprise her with the ring. The look on her face when she saw the ring was priceless. She was in tears. I was in tears. As soon as mom figured out what had happened she was in tears, too. It was a Christmas memory I will treasure for years. We went over to the Rogers' for a Christmas lupper (lunch/supper). It was a great Christmas. I was really happy to have the majority of Christmas be just the three of us.