Sheesh!! I got all caught up in telling about my great eBay finds, I forgot to tell you all how great our now-traditional Christmas Morning breakfast went!!
For about 5 years now, Tommy and I have been hosting a family gathering at our home on Christmas Morning. This has to be juggled around a bit on the years when Christmas falls on a Sunday, but the rest of the time, it's pretty peaceful & this year was especially awesome.
We have family from both sides here... my parents, our kids, including of course, our daughter-in-law and usually at least one or two friends who don't have family around here. We also have Tommy's parents here and for the past couple of years, that also includes my mother-in-law's mentally handicapped sister.
This year, we had just my one friend whose sons were my boys' best friends growing up. Two of her three sons are now in the military, one of those is married with a family of his own, the other is stationed in California and the other lives around here, but had celebrated with his mom earlier. Corey did a neat thing and called one of the boys on iPhone's facetime, then handed the phone to my friend, so she got to see and chat with her youngest.
The really amazing thing about this year was how my parents hung around for games and stuff. Normally Christmas is a really hard time for my mom. Her mother passed away on Christmas morning about 6 years ago, so she's usually pretty sullen along with being tired because she pushes herself so much.
I am not sure what happened this year, but I pray it's a new tradition. She and Daddy both will usually be ready to go as soon as the meal is over, but Mom came to me and suggested we play a game.
Now folks, THAT is an odd request coming from my mother. Tommy's parents play games all the time and they usually end up staying hours and hours on Christmas morning because our Casey loves Monopoly about as much as they do. I seldom ever play that with them because I can't stand how long it drags on, but they all love it.
ANYway, so Mom suggests a game. I know she won't enjoy something like Monopoly, so I pull out Taboo. We ALL played that for over an hour and had the best time!! So much so, that for New Year's Eve, Mom asked that we all come up for supper and bring the game with us!
It was really amazing and SUCH a fun time. When we normally are left feeling like... I dunno, like anyone would feel if someone just wanted to take off as soon as possible instead of joining in any fun and games. Kinda like a slap, ya know? But not this year. I really hope this is a new tradition!
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
long time, no post...
Ah, yes. I'm back. My life got a little hectic during the holidays. I'm sure yours wasn't though, right? Mmhmm.. I didn't think so.
Our family had a beautiful Christmas, even though this was one of the tightest financial times of our lives. None of the family really had the extra money to do our usual week at the cabin, and we are just out of the habit of trying to buy everyone gifts... besides the fact that we just flat had no money to do that with.
*sigh* Yeah, it's a little depressing, but God kept us busy & we didn't focus on what we didn't have.
So, let me tell you what we did have...
We had two non-family get-togethers at our house. One was for my ladies group of Emmaus chicks. It's the local group of women who have all been on the Walk to Emmaus. Normally we meet each Thursday at a restaurant, or occasionally at a church or someone's home if we're making agape gifts for a walk. But with us getting the finishing touches on the house, both Tommy & I wanted to host some parties at our home. So I had about 25 people here in the middle of December. We played an ornament exchange game, had tons of food & good fellowship. It was so awesome & I was so blessed to have everyone here.
The very next night, we hosted our church's community group here. Unfortunately, three of the couples couldn't come, but of the three couples we had here, I think we all had a great time. We've grown really close to some of these people, and I guess, as our group has grown & there are basically just three of us couples who have been here all along, those other two couples were so good to us when I was injured & not able to get around back in the summer... I just wanted to do something for them. So for this gathering, I didn't ask anyone to bring food. Tommy & I did all the cooking. It turned out great.
I used quite a few recipes I'd found on Pinterest, and they were a hit. I did a lot of cooking for my Emmaus group too, but did ask for the ladies to bring something to share because I was afraid of not having enough. Man! We had a TON of food!!
During all of this, Tommy & I had been working with the First Touch group at church. This is the group that includes the ushers, parking lot guys and the greeters who are stationed not only at the doors, but all through the outer area before you get to the auditorium. I love doing this except for one thing... it means we miss out on the first of the worship service. But still, I love it. I get to see people that I normally don't, which means a lot in a church as big as ours. The last Sunday we worked, I got to see two people I'd gone to high school with that I hadn't seen in ages!!
So God kept us very busy with those things and with doing the Advent devotionals we did corporately with our church. That helped a lot and I'm so thankful that we stuck with it this year. We kinda failed big time last year!
We did spend about $50 on very small gifts for our kids & parents & I'd bought a couple of things earlier in the year for my sister & her husband, so we weren't completely empty handed, which is what I HATE, especially with my parents because my mom always buys such nice things for everyone.
She & dad gave us all some money as well, which was really REALLY nice and put both Tommy and me on eBay looking for things we wanted.
For him it was all kinds of light-weight backpacking equipment for the trip he and our boys are planning for later this year. For me? Well, I have wanted to get some Thirty-One bags for eons. I even thought about hosting a party, but I HATE doing those buy-something deals. I don't go to them because I can't afford to buy stuff, so I figure most people are likely in the same situation. I also wanted to find a really good leather purse. Well, I went over my Christmas-cash budget, but thankfully I have Bill Me Later & could go ahead and get not one, but but SEVERAL of EACH of these wish-list items!!
God's so good, isn't He?? :)
I got one Dooney & Bourke all leather drawstring bag in excellent condition for several hundred dollars less than it would have cost new. I got one of those huge 31 Weekender totes, brand-new in the package AND in that new purple paisley pattern I love! Not only that, but I saved over $30 off retail. I dunno why someone wasn't pleased with this as a gift, but I am thrilled with my purchase! I also got a barely-used All In One Organizing totes to hold all the things we need to keep in the truck. It's in a nice discontinued pattern with the snowy pine trees? I wiped a couple of smudged out of the inside & it looks like new. Saved a TON on it, too. Then I found another 31 Large Utility tote in the brown dot pattern. And I unexpectedly won another Dooney & Bourke bag that should be here any day. It's almost like new too and I only gave $30-something for it. It's all leather & looks great.
Now my problem will be being seen with the aforementioned 31 bags by the ladies I know who are 31 reps. *sigh* I'm thinking about posting a status on facebook explaining what I've done. I mean, c'mon, how can anyone fault me for buying these things used &/or for WAY less than retail? Hopefully, no one, but we'll see. *sigh* I can't let that worry me right now.
Well, I think that's it for me for right now. I'm going to try to upload some pix of the stuff we've got finished around the house. I absolutely LOVE my new green walls in the family room. It's got such a warm cozy feel now and the redo of the mantle is just awesome! Hang tight... I'll get some pix up ASAP!!
hugs~
Our family had a beautiful Christmas, even though this was one of the tightest financial times of our lives. None of the family really had the extra money to do our usual week at the cabin, and we are just out of the habit of trying to buy everyone gifts... besides the fact that we just flat had no money to do that with.
*sigh* Yeah, it's a little depressing, but God kept us busy & we didn't focus on what we didn't have.
So, let me tell you what we did have...
We had two non-family get-togethers at our house. One was for my ladies group of Emmaus chicks. It's the local group of women who have all been on the Walk to Emmaus. Normally we meet each Thursday at a restaurant, or occasionally at a church or someone's home if we're making agape gifts for a walk. But with us getting the finishing touches on the house, both Tommy & I wanted to host some parties at our home. So I had about 25 people here in the middle of December. We played an ornament exchange game, had tons of food & good fellowship. It was so awesome & I was so blessed to have everyone here.
The very next night, we hosted our church's community group here. Unfortunately, three of the couples couldn't come, but of the three couples we had here, I think we all had a great time. We've grown really close to some of these people, and I guess, as our group has grown & there are basically just three of us couples who have been here all along, those other two couples were so good to us when I was injured & not able to get around back in the summer... I just wanted to do something for them. So for this gathering, I didn't ask anyone to bring food. Tommy & I did all the cooking. It turned out great.
I used quite a few recipes I'd found on Pinterest, and they were a hit. I did a lot of cooking for my Emmaus group too, but did ask for the ladies to bring something to share because I was afraid of not having enough. Man! We had a TON of food!!
During all of this, Tommy & I had been working with the First Touch group at church. This is the group that includes the ushers, parking lot guys and the greeters who are stationed not only at the doors, but all through the outer area before you get to the auditorium. I love doing this except for one thing... it means we miss out on the first of the worship service. But still, I love it. I get to see people that I normally don't, which means a lot in a church as big as ours. The last Sunday we worked, I got to see two people I'd gone to high school with that I hadn't seen in ages!!
So God kept us very busy with those things and with doing the Advent devotionals we did corporately with our church. That helped a lot and I'm so thankful that we stuck with it this year. We kinda failed big time last year!
We did spend about $50 on very small gifts for our kids & parents & I'd bought a couple of things earlier in the year for my sister & her husband, so we weren't completely empty handed, which is what I HATE, especially with my parents because my mom always buys such nice things for everyone.
She & dad gave us all some money as well, which was really REALLY nice and put both Tommy and me on eBay looking for things we wanted.
For him it was all kinds of light-weight backpacking equipment for the trip he and our boys are planning for later this year. For me? Well, I have wanted to get some Thirty-One bags for eons. I even thought about hosting a party, but I HATE doing those buy-something deals. I don't go to them because I can't afford to buy stuff, so I figure most people are likely in the same situation. I also wanted to find a really good leather purse. Well, I went over my Christmas-cash budget, but thankfully I have Bill Me Later & could go ahead and get not one, but but SEVERAL of EACH of these wish-list items!!
God's so good, isn't He?? :)
I got one Dooney & Bourke all leather drawstring bag in excellent condition for several hundred dollars less than it would have cost new. I got one of those huge 31 Weekender totes, brand-new in the package AND in that new purple paisley pattern I love! Not only that, but I saved over $30 off retail. I dunno why someone wasn't pleased with this as a gift, but I am thrilled with my purchase! I also got a barely-used All In One Organizing totes to hold all the things we need to keep in the truck. It's in a nice discontinued pattern with the snowy pine trees? I wiped a couple of smudged out of the inside & it looks like new. Saved a TON on it, too. Then I found another 31 Large Utility tote in the brown dot pattern. And I unexpectedly won another Dooney & Bourke bag that should be here any day. It's almost like new too and I only gave $30-something for it. It's all leather & looks great.
Now my problem will be being seen with the aforementioned 31 bags by the ladies I know who are 31 reps. *sigh* I'm thinking about posting a status on facebook explaining what I've done. I mean, c'mon, how can anyone fault me for buying these things used &/or for WAY less than retail? Hopefully, no one, but we'll see. *sigh* I can't let that worry me right now.
Well, I think that's it for me for right now. I'm going to try to upload some pix of the stuff we've got finished around the house. I absolutely LOVE my new green walls in the family room. It's got such a warm cozy feel now and the redo of the mantle is just awesome! Hang tight... I'll get some pix up ASAP!!
hugs~
Sunday, November 6, 2011
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...
Not so much HERE, but I'm trying. I had some fall colored template on here that is one of the standard issue from Blogger, but thought, as I'm thinking for the house too, once I finally can see the floor again, that I'd just go ahead & decorate for Christmas since between Thanksgiving and then it gets to be so hectic and this year it'll be doubly so!
After thinking we'd forego our trip to the cabin this year, we have reserved a four bedroom in Gatlingburg for the first week of December. We started going in 2009 after talking it over with the rest of the family, in lieu of making several gatherings and exchanging gifts. We spend about a week at a cabin with grandparents and all, so it ends up being three generations together. Hopefully, the next trip we make, we'll have a fourth generation with us, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. ;)
Last year somehow wasn't nearly as fun. My sister, who comes down on Mom and Dad's dime and sleeps in the main living area on a sleeper sofa, was pretty whiny/complaining last year. She must have got the hint from everyone avoiding her or else Mom told her she'd need to keep the griping to herself or stay home this year. Anyhow, we each chip in a portion, depending on how long we stay (Tommy and I and the kids all stay the entire week, while my parents and Tommy's split the week) and whether or not we have our own bedroom, so it makes it much more affordable. We mostly just hang out in the cabin, watching movies, playing games, cooking/eating and soaking in the hot tub. Last year, it snowed a LOT and was just gorgeous!
Anyhow, since everyone but us and my sister will be in the process of moving, it's going to be chaotic before long, so we thought we'd need to just skip going to the cabin, but Casey pointed out that would be a big reason to go! To destress and relax some. So... we're going!
Yay. Now to save up enough money to afford our part of the cabin, our part of the food and enough to go out to eat at least once and hopefully shop a little. *sigh* I don't know how that's gonna work out, but Lord willing, we'll be able to scratch up some extra for that.
Gotta get... time for evening services!
God bless...
G~
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