Christmas Part II

Sunday morning we went to church and I was expecting to teach Sunday school as I had been for the last few weeks. Mrs. Vondie had fallen and broken her foot and was not able to climb the steps to her classroom so I said I would fill in for her. It was the three year old class, which meant I had the cutest kids in the church. But when I got up there, Mrs. Vondie said she just couldn't take it any longer and had to be with her younguns. So alas, I said my farewells and went back to my own class with Bruce.

We did sing our two Christmas songs I shared with you. Bruce bought me a little camera for my laptop so maybe I can film the songs for you after all. Pastor preached on the Birthday of the King. Who is going to the party? And what gift are you taking for him? It was so good. During the invitation he had us sing the Happy Birthday song. Five hundred voices singing that quietly brought tears to many eyes including my own. It was very moving. Sunday night, Brother Johnny preached briefly as Pastor left for his mother's home in the Raleigh Durham area.

My family met at my parent's home and we had our Christmas celebration. We started out with prayer and food. Followed by a song. Then daddy read Luke 2 as he has done for as long as I can remember. He had a little Bible lesson with it. We prayed. Had another song in celebration of our Saviour. And then began opening our gifts. Here are just a few pictures of the very many pictures that were taken that night. There were many laughs during these six hours of festivities.

This is mom preparing our table of Christmas pickups. Yes, she's in her jammies....but she did dress it up with her pearls. LOL


This is my brother's daughter, Taylor. Her daddy is the one that passed away two years ago. We missed him this night of celebrating, but it was so good to have his baby girl there with us.


This is my niece Jessica and Jordan putting the angel that Harrison bought my mother on top of her tree. She had a teeny tiny one and that just bugged him deeply so he bought her one for Christmas.


Jordan, my niece Amber's boyfriend, bought her a new stereo CD system for her car.


My nephew Michael. He's my brother John's son. My mom had wrapped him a gift card about five or six different times beginning in a large box. The boxes kept getting smaller. It was so funny watching him open them.


Here is daddy opening the GIANT universal remote we bought for him. He's always losing the one he had so we found a gigantic one and gave it to him. Everyone cracked up at that. Bruce programed it for him before we left and he loved it. His real gift from us was an ipod docking station with clock radio. He loved it. Bless his heart. He had dialysis that morning and was feeling quite low. On top of that, he had fallen the night before and hurt his arm pretty badly. As a matter of fact, he finally broke down and went to the hospital for x-rays today. Still waiting to hear about that.


Mom holding the school picture of Taylor she gave her and daddy for Christmas.


Amber trying on the bathrobe we got her. It came with a sleep mask that said Sweet Dreams.


Daddy bought mom a laptop. She was totally thrilled with that.

So we got her a VERY NICE laptop tote. She loved it. It's black with all pink trim and pink plush inside.


Hannah got this nice luggage piece with her name on it from my parents.


My brother John and his wife Jenny gave Bruce this knife. And let me tell ya, this thing is SHARP! Honestly, it scared me.


When I was a little girl, this was my favorite book. I would have daddy read it to me over and over. I would take it to him and say, "Read my birdie?" And he would. Well, over time the book was lost between moves and he found it a few weeks ago and bought it for me. When everything had died down a little at the house, I snuggled up with him and Harrison and he read it to us. It was fun.


Taylor and Hannah


I asked for feather pillows this year and my parents got them for me. It's been so nice sleeping on them. So comfy!


John was told that his gift was in the carport. What a letdown it was when he realized that daddy's motorcycle was not it. LOL


But he was happy with the Kenmore refrigerator my folks bought for his basement so he doesn't have to go up and down the stairs when they're living it up by their pool in the summer.


This is my niece Jessica on the left with Taylor and Hannah.


Harrison with some sidewalk chalk which he is playing with on the driveway even now as I type this post.


My lovely sister-in-law, Jenny. She's sweet and feisty.


Justin's watch from mom and dad.

We had a really great night and I'm so glad that we were able to keep focus on the Lord. It's easy to get lost in the excitement of gift giving and laughter. But so important to remember why we have this special celebration. This birthday of a King!