Christmas Time is Here!

It's Christmas and believe it or not, it actually feels like Christmas outside!(Unlike Thanksgiving when it was 78 degrees!) I've been home for nearly a week and will be here until Monday when I head to New Orleans for work, which means I won't be back to my house until late Tuesday...I miss my house! It's been fun, but I'm always ready to get back to my own routine.

This week has included spending a lot of bonding time with my parents, which has been nice. They decided they wanted to get a digital camera so my dad and I went to pick it out (I did the picking out, he paid! LOL) They are a little technology challenged! My 2nd niece was born last week so Aunt Ash got to see my girls- so sweet. Viv has mastered saying "Ash" and it brings a smile to my face every time she says it.

Christmas Eve was spent at my cousins with gumb and shrimp and corn soup- delicious! We popped fireworks afterwards and the little ones loved it. My little cousin loved using my Flip video camera and decided she wanted one- she forgets that she's only 8! We then went to my mom's sisters house and ate some more goodies and exchanged presents. Christmas morning we ate the traditional breakfast casserole and opened presents- I got bar stools! It's so funny the things that you get excited about as an adult. We then headed to a fancy hotel downtown for lunch- oh my! So good. This afternoon has been a lazy one, as it's cold and rainy.

This Christmas has been so different, especially with it being the first one without Maw Maw. She always loved Christmas and for the longest time we would all crowd into her house. A few memories over the years:

• The year she cut down a Christmas tree from the woods behind her house. She was probably well into her 70's when she did this! It was a Charlie Brown tree, but that is one of my favorite memories.
• The year we almost had ham sandwiches for Christmas Eve supper because it turned really cold and the pipes froze.
• Seeing our handmade stockings (not by her, but she had them made) hung on the door
• Our ornaments that had our names on it. Last year, we got these in our stockings. Mine is on my tree this year.
• Date cookies- one day, I'm going to find a receipe for this!
• Going to the christmas parade in Zachary
• Going to the Christmas pageant at FBC Zachary
• Everyone crowding into the house for Christmas and wrapping paper all over the place.
• The gift cards from Maison Blanche (old department store in BR) and later from Walmart.
• The year she got a VCR (after she asked for one) and asking what it was..and then telling my cousin that she couldn't watch Titanic because it was "too sad." :)

Even though Christmas was very different this year, one thing stayed the same: the Reason for the Season-Jesus. I'm reminded of how much a baby changed the entire course of history, that the Light of the World came into darkness-to seek and to save what was lost. Me. You. The entire world.