Almost Christmas…
It’s Christmas Eve already. Can you believe it? Comes up on us fast every year. But here are some of the highlights (so far…and to come):
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Had a big Christmas cookout at our house last night. Great turnout. A lot of fun with a lot of friends. Burgers, steaks, and chicken… kids screaming in about every room… but a great way to spend some of the holiday with our “extended” family. Awesome.
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My mom and my brother are driving here today. Looking forward to spending a few days with them.
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Attended a Christmas party for Kailyn at her school last week. It reminded me of my own elementary school parties. Anyway, she had a blast.
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Stacey and I both attended a Christmas “musical” for the Z at his preschool last week. Typical let’s-watch-kids-stand-there-and-not-sing-event, but fun nonetheless… I remember doing all sorts of things like this as a kid at school and church, and I know my kids love them. They are truly getting old enough to enjoy the whole season of the holiday.
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We wrapped up the “Christmas in the Reel World” series at church yesterday. Attendance was down (a lot of people are sick or traveling 2 days before Christmas), but it was a great program. We used the movie Transformers as a launching point to talk about the meaning of Christmas – that God sent his son to transform (save) the world. He calls us to lead transformed lives (Romans 12) – even changing the way we think so that we, as transformed individuals, can carry his message of salvation and transformation into the world. You follow?
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Still have a bit of cleaning up to do this morning before my family arrives. Shouldn’t be too bad, though. A lot of people helped us clean up from the party last night. But it’s still last minute…as always.
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The post office screwed up delivery of my mother’s gift to me and Stacey. It was supposed to be shipped on Saturday (USPS), but there’s only a note on the tracking site that says “mis-shipped by carrier” or something over in Atlanta. Hopefully, it will arrive today.
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It promises to be a long day and a long evening of playing “Santa Claus” as we wrap gifts for one another (we won’t open them until tomorrow, though).
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Tonight: Cookies and milk for Santa. Kailyn LOVES making cookies and leaving them by the fireplace.
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Tomorrow: Turkey (some hickory smoked and some with a sun-dried tomato seasoning), brown sugar glazed ham, corn casserole, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, yeast rolls, mashed potatoes, chocolate pound cake, apple pie, ice cream…
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Believe it or not, right now we’re listening to “Holiday Traditions” on XM Radio. Kind of a departure from my normal music ’set,’ but the music they’re playing reminds me of a lot of the music I grew up with around Christmas (I’m sure some of it is exactly the same). Very festive.
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Okay, okay, okay…I know our holiday traditions make us look, at times, like a poster family for Hallmark Christmas cards, but give me a break. I still love this time of year.
