Christmas Celebrations - Part 9: Myrtle Beach

After returning from my parents' house for the second time this Christmas, we finally had a day at home to unpack and take down all the Christmas decorations.  We also learned some tragic news about a dear friend's mother whom we both knew and loved.  An undetected UTI was ravaging this sweet woman's body.  Just when the doctors had her heart and kidneys stabilized, a blood thinner caused a blood clot so she was facing amputation and possible death if the clot entered her lungs.  The very next day the doctors called my friend and her dad in for a meeting.  It was time to pull life support.  Jesus took her home before they had to make that decision.

Another friend in our community group who is a tad younger than we are had just been rushed to the ER for gallbladder issues after already dealing with serious heart problems earlier this fall. Another couple we love so much had each been diagnosed with a serious health condition in the same week.  He had prostrate cancer and would be having major surgery very soon.  We also heard that day about several fatal car wrecks involving teens in my home town and students of some teacher friends of ours.

We were still reeling from the CT shootings killing so many precious kids the same age as our son.  Many people we knew were also dealing with hurtful relationships.  We were also facing the fiscal cliff with the rest of the working citizens of our country knowing that our current administration, which had already spent so much money that each of our kids already owes approximately $53,000, would continue to increase reckless spending.  While traveling for the holidays, I had enjoyed a brief respite from all the terrible news, but now that we were back home and my head was out of the sand, my heart and soul ached.

We had one more Christmas trip to make for the season, and I am so glad our destination was the beach.  Many of my most profound encounters and life-changing experiences with the Lord have taken place along the ocean shore.  Even though it was about 25-30 degrees colder this year on the beach than when we went last year at this time, I just had to walk along the sand and gaze across the ocean until my heart was soothed and filled with God's peace.

New Year's Eve at the Beach: 

After getting my fill of sand and surf, we celebrated a belated Christmas with Ju-Ju and Troy over a traditional New Year's meal.  We ate collards, rice, black-eyed peas, and ham, so we're hoping for health, wealth, and prosperity next year.  Myths aside, we know that in this world, we will have troubles but Christ has overcome the world and in Him alone we find our peace, hope, and secure salvation.

We all exchanged gifts, and I found myself buried under all the kids' presents and gift wrap. When the kids got ready for bed, they put on their matching pajamas.  Since the pajamas look just alike, they got mixed up in the suitcases, so the kids ended up wearing the other's size.  They were so cute in their too long and too short pajamas.

He loved the 4 foot sock monkey which conveniently matched their sock monkey Christmas pajamas.

Christmas Celebrations - Part 8: Christmas with my Family Again

Except for a small delay, our flights home from OK were uneventful.  After all the drama we've had in the past, we could not be more thankful for no drama this time.  We sat beside delightful people on the plane, hailed our shuttle bus rather quickly, arrived at our car to discover that we were missing my largest and my crucial piece of luggage, found it on a different shuttle bus, and got home around midnight.  I unpacked and got to bed my 3:00 am.  When we awoke, we all climbed back into the car, headed to the doctor's office for a quick adjustment, and then set out for another road trip to my parents' house.  Usually we do our nuclear family's Christmas celebration and the extended family Christmas dinner and gift exchange all during the same trip.  Mom wanted to be first, but the extended family couldn't come that day, so we came back again after our big trip to OK to celebrate with my extended family.

Our family tradition is to have breakfast for dinner.  I prefer a Paleo, gluten-free diet, but there sure were a lot of simple carbs on the table that were entirely too delicious to resist.  It's Christmas, so we went ahead and enjoyed the casseroles, sausage balls, cinnamon cakes, apple dumplings, pumpkin breads pies, and fruit salad. 

My aunt always buys each of the kids new pajamas and a classic book for Christmas.  Half of the kids were already in their PJs by the time I could gather them all together for pictures with Nana and Pops.

In addition to gift cards, my other aunt and uncle gave the kids in each family a surprise gift to enjoy as a family.  My brother's kids received the largest and most sophisticated remote controlled stunt helicopter I have seen.  We have already been through two different helicopters since the kids enjoy crashing flying them so much they eventually die.  We all enjoyed watching it fly and crash about the living room.

My brother's kids have lots of pets including a dog, but our kids don't have a pet because we were waiting until we no longer had a house on the MLS to adopt a pet.  So, my aunt and uncle gave our kids a robotic puppy named Lucky.  We've had robotic pets before, but this dog beats them all because he performs so many hilarious tricks.  Lucky has kept the kids entertained for many hours.  The kids wanted to change the dog's name to Noah.  Thankfully, Lucky was smart enough to learn how to respond to the new name and now performs all the same tricks even if they call him Noah.

Lucky

Christmas Celebrations - Part 7: Last 2 days in OK

The last two days in Oklahoma provided a time of rest, recovery, and relationship building.  The kids enjoyed slumber parties with their cousins at various houses, and they spent lots of time enjoying all their new presents.  They went swimming at an indoor pool while growing ever closer to their beloved cousins.  They could not bear to separate for even a moment to pack, so they extended their stay at their cousin's house while my husband and I packed up all their things back at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  I'm amazed at how close they feel to these cousins who live 1200 miles away.  My husband's family members are all very intentional about making the most of our time out there, so I give them much credit for facilitating such strong relationships despite the distance that separates us.

It was very cold and dry during our week in Oklahoma.  Had there been moisture in the air, there would have been lots of snow.  Yet, cold temperatures did not keep the kids from playing outside in Grandma and Grandpa's adventure land.

They also took fast rides with Grandpa on his Kawasaki.

Christmas Celebrations - Part 6: Oklahoma Day 4 (Chistmas Day)

Christmas Day in Oklahoma is crazy fun.  Sheer chaos abounds as kids go wild opening presents, but as the kids get older, the chaos is becoming slightly more contained. The kids take more time opening each gift, appreciating each one instead of trying to tear open all the wrapping on every gift in 30 seconds or less.  Still, I found myself opening my own gifts alone in the living room while the family enjoyed Grandma's famous cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate because I was so focused on watching others enjoy their gifts that I nearly forgot about mine.  Here are a few snapshots from our Christmas bliss.

Grandma's cinnamon rolls always rise unlike those we try to make at home.

Christmas bliss for our little girl

Christmas Day for our little boy

The following scrapbook page pictures Grandma and Grandma opening the big gift from all the kids combined.  I had just looked at old photos of a brother-in-law getting a new bicycle as a kid. Then I looked up to find him sitting on the youngest grandson's new bike.  My husband is holding a card from our daughter.  She addressed it to "Pappy" because that's the name she prefers to call him.  He isn't fond of the name, nor do I like being called "Mother" in her prim and proper tone.  She's always going through some stage or another, and the current stage is to talk in old upper crust English.  I'm still amused over the way Grandma tagged each gift.  Instead of writing our names on them, she printed out a different photo of each of us for each gift.

The photo at the bottom of the four brothers in their scarves is significant. My husband's grandmother (Grandma's mother) died this past summer.  She had been our kids' last living great-grandparent.  My husband is one of about 37 cousins.  One of the cousins took all the yard their grandma had left behind and knitted a scarf for each of the cousins out of her scraps as a special reminder of their precious grandmother who loved to knit, quilt, and sew.

Scarves with a note in each wrapped gift box

The note she included with each scarf

Christmas Celebrations - Part 5: Oklahoma Day 3 (Christmas Eve)

Our third day in Oklahoma was Christmas Eve.  It was filled with family, faith, and little bits of adventure.  The cousins came over rather early that day for lots of fun cousin play time.  One of the twins had a red shiny sticker on her nose and said that she was Rudolph.  I snapped a picture of her pointing a toy gun at me and captioned it:

"Grandma got held up by a red nosed reindeer
When the twins came over to her house Christmas Eve."

I really wanted a side-by-side picture of the youngest grandson, age 3, and our son, age 6.  They wear the same size despite the age difference.  It's almost difficult to tell which one is oldest.  My husband and I are both rather short, so our son has been tracking along the 20-30 percentile curve his entire life.  Our nephew, however, has a father who is a 6'4" and a maternal grandfather who is at least that tall, so he's on his way to becoming a super tall young man.

The kids in the family, including my husband, had fun playing Rock Band by the Christmas tree.  I posted a pic of my husband and my son rocking out on Facebook, and friends liked Grandma's Christmas tree so much I had to take another picture at night so they could see it all lit up against the dark sky.  So, it looks like my husband spent the entire day playing Rock Band, but he did take breaks here and there.  Grandma has always believed that Christmas trees should be made out of real trees.  She probably abhors our artificial one with fiber optic lights.  However, some of her sons are allergic to the tree needles, so she has always used a real tree without any leaves painted white for her Christmas tree. Her latest tree is not a tree but a series of wood planks nailed together in a very nice geometric pattern with hooks for hanging ornaments. She really should start selling them on Pinterest although a lot of labor is involved, so she would have to sell them at a high price.

Here is some evidence that my husband did not spend the entire day playing Rock Band.  He took some time to inspect his brothers' new shotguns and took me out to Grandma & Grandpa's pond to practice shooting skeet.  He did not miss.

I find my brother-in-law's shotgun to be very awkward to hold.  He's 6'4" and has a significantly larger arm span that I do.  The first skeet he threw out hung low in the air and took veered sharply to the left.  The guys laughed, considering it a dud, but in a last minute impulse, I decided to shoot anyway.  And by some stroke of luck, I nailed it.  Just don't ask me how well I shot the other skeet that were thrown along a normal trajectory.

Jingle bells, shotgun shells, 4 skeet got away.
But the one that flew far left got blown to bits today.

Sommer, one of the multiple super models in the family, showed off her domestic skills by leading a cookie baking/decorating project with the kids all afternoon.  She used her grandmother's famous cookie recipe, and the cookies turned out fabulous.  The kids had a blast watching, helping, and decorating.  We love you, Sommer!

My husband's family has some great Christmas Eve traditions.  After enjoying a fabulous meal prepared by Grandma preceded by some fine appetizers supplied by the boys (which this year included the largest cocktail shrimp I have ever seen and the prettiest veggie& cheese tray in the shape of a Christmas tree), the family gathers in the living room for the reading of the Christmas story from the Bible.  Then envelopes are distributed to each member of the family.  Inside is a note indicating that a donation has been made to a charitable organization (carefully selected to suit each family member's passion) because of Christ, the greatest gift, and in honor of each family member.  Here are two examples with real names replaced with blog names.

Then, each family member receives a gift bag.  Every year since my husband, the oldest, was a small child, every single family member, both young and old, is given a set of matching pajamas.  The older guys usually get a t-shirt and sleep pants, but some years, they have gotten pajamas to match the rest of us as well.  Then Grandma insists that we all put on our new pajamas for pictures.  The next morning, we still have our new pajamas on for the opening of gifts.

Listening to the Christmas story, cookies in process, and grand sons in their matching pajamas.

This year a new tradition was added.  We all watched a Christmas movie that was written, produced, choreographed, and designed by the oldest grandchild. She had the leading acting role and also played the piano, sang, and dance.  She selected costumes for herself and her twin sisters who also sang and danced in the movie.  She even wrote in parts for our kids which she filmed during the early days of our visit.  Her brother helped edit and add sound effects.  It was hilarious.  One of my favorite songs was "Carol of the Cats" (revised words to the tune of "Carol of the Bells") featuring her two cats sitting on the sofa, looking annoyed.

Christmas Celebrations - Part 4: Oklahoma Day 2

After all the air travel and excitement at Dry Gulch and after staying up for over 20 hours after only 4 hours of sleep on Saturday, we slept in on Sunday, but not TOO late because we needed to get to church 75 minutes early to get a seat.  The service we would be attending would be the seventh one for the weekend.  The church seats 2500, and the lines were long for every single service.  I stood amazed as we waited, thinking to myself, " Despite the push to remove God's name from the public sector, nothing will ever remove the hunger in the human soul for the only One who can truly satisfy the deepest longings of the heart."

When we stepped into the parking lot of the church, I noticed that my daughter had a gaping hole in the knee of her leggings.  Thankfully, we had plenty of time before the next service, so she changed out of them.  I told her just to throw them in the trashcan.  But she wailed, "No Mommy, I need them for my Christmas outfit.  Can't Nana sew up the hole?"

I promised to buy her a new pair after church while wondering how I raised a child to be so frugal.  She certainly believes Nana can fix anything!

While waiting, we took a few few family photos with our cell phones.  Here's one of our family before church.

The "service" was unlike anything I have ever attended, at least not at church.  It was loud like a rock concert with a phenomenal light display.  It included funny dramas, fabulous music, amazing choreography and a set like you could only expect to find in Hollywood. The pastor at the church believes the church should do everything BIG.  He is from Texas after all.  I figured that out about him the night before at Dry Gulch, which was also over the top.  The church brought in the Philadelphia string quartet.  Their music was simply amazing, but we could sort of tell through the dark room, smoke, and sophisticated spotlights that they were not playing traditional instruments but rather some form of electronic strings.  The bass and cello were lightweight enough for the musicians to move around with them.  It really was fantastic.

I felt conflicted during the service show.  I've always believed that church gatherings should be all about worshiping God, not entertaining the masses.  If people come seeking to be entertained instead of to worship and serve, then they will totally miss God's purpose for mankind.  Yet, this grandiose method has a way of drawing in the lost like no other.  After all the lavish entertainments which even included modified versions of Michael Jackson's secular song, Thriller, and the Sound of Music song, These are a Few of my Favorite Things, there was a time of heartfelt praise and worship.  And the true, Biblical account of Christ's birth and ministry was powerfully presented.  The life changing testimonies shared during the service were very moving.  God is clearly doing a powerful work at Church on the Move, so who am I to question the presentation?  As the apostle Paul said:

1 Corinthians 9:22
To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.

After the service, my mother-in-law prepared another fabulous meal for the entire family.  She cooked for everyone, not just us, but all the brothers and their families as well, every day we were there.  She is truly amazing!

That evening, we went out for a night of family bowling.  My husband and his brothers bowled a lot as kids.  I can count the total number of times I've been bowling with my fingers.  My husband set a personal best score at 208.  I haven't even reached triple digits yet.  At least I can now bowl with a 12 or 15 pound bowling ball without any pain or struggle.  I'll look for victories wherever I can find them!

Christmas Celebrations - Part 3: Oklahoma Day 1

On the Saturday before Christmas, we got up long before the roosters to fly to Oklahoma to celebrate Christmas with my husband's family.  Our travels have been filled with mishaps in the past due to snow, so when the weather forecast called for snow (between 2" and 20"), I got a little nervous.  Thankfully, it did not snow during any of our travels.  While there, my in-laws were all hoping for lots of snow while I kept praying that the snow would hold off until we flew back home.  Ironically, it did start snowing in their area right after we returned home. To top it off, my husband's brother was featured on the front page of the city's newspaper in a large photo of him walking through the snow.  He looked like a GQ model in that photo that accompanied an article about all the snowfall coming to the area.  I am so thankful to God for easy travels this year.

After only a few hours of sleep the night before our flight, we were all super tired the first day.  Yet, the family had a packed day of excitement scheduled for us.  They always go out of their way to make every day spent there extremely memorable for us.

When we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house, the kids greeted most of Grandma's 18 cats, her 3 dogs, fish, geese, and chickens.  The kids say they have each adopted one of Grandma's cats.  Thankfully the cats stay in Oklahoma.  Our son's cat, Johnny-B-Good, is the large cat perched on top of the fish tank in the top left photo in the scrapbook page pictured below.  Johnny likes to drink fish flavored water from the fish tank.  Maybe he is hoping that one of the fish will jump up within reach.  My husband took a little nap on the couch before we headed out again.  My son generously let his daddy sleep with his lovie blanket named Bubba.

After a brief rest, we traveled to Dry Gulch.  The pastor at my husband's parents' church built this fabulous western style town for movies he once filmed as part of his children's ministry.  Now the town is used as kids' camp during the summer, and it hosts the Christmas train outreach during the winter.  The huge western "town" includes a western style steam locomotive, bumper cars, race track, arcade, pony rides, carriage rides, playground area, and so much more.  The cabins are converted into restaurants during the Christmas season.  One restaurant served the best beef stew I have ever had.  We were told that their cinnamon roll shop puts Cinnabon to shame.  The Christmas train takes passengers through the entire Christmas story from creation to Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.  The images and the dramas are quite powerful.  We were there on the last night they were open, so the lines were exceedingly long.  Everything was well worth the wait, however.

 

Here's a video of the youngest cousins on the bumper cars:

Christmas Celebrations - Part 2: Mom & Dad's House

After celebrating Christmas with our kids on the 15th of December, we packed the car for a road trip to my parents' house. My brother and his family traveled an entire block (they are so fortunate to live so close) to meet us there.  I love watching the cousins having so much fun together. We had a great time of exchanging gifts, playing, laughing, and enjoying delicious steak, potatoes, salad, and multiple desserts.

Christmas Celebrations - Part 1: Our House

This year, we had to make four different trips to see family over Christmas.  So our Christmas celebrations started early in December and ended on New Year's Day. The last day before Christmas in which our entire family was together at home was December 15.  So, late on December 14, we set out the gifts and filled the stockings for the kids to enjoy early the next morning.  Before going to bed, I went up to the gym to do a few pull-ups because I always sleep better when my muscles are a little fatigued.  When I pulled on the bar, it fell off the door frame and landed on my nose and forehead.  So, unlike Rudolph, whose nose was shiny red, my forehead and nose had a shiner that was black and blue during our Christmas celebration.  I could not bear to have anything come near my nose for weeks afterwards because it hurt so much.

My husband had his own little catastrophe while I was dueling with the pull-up bar.  Every year he tries to copy his mother's famous cinnamon roll recipe when we do our Christmas to carry on her cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning tradition.  While combining ingredients, he realized we were short one packet of yeast.  To solve that problem, he just cut the recipe in half.  Then he wondered if that yeast packet was too old.  Later, after he had attempted to make the rolls, he learned that the yeast temperature has to reach between 105 and 115 degrees (no more, no less) to enable the dough to rise.  He was so amused by the fact that the ingredients used to make cinnamon rolls are strikingly similar to those used to make biopharmaceuticals (minus hamster ovaries) to take much notice of the yeast temperature.  As much as he whispered "Now rise, my pretty" to the dough, I was certain the rolls would rise.  They did not.  They were tiny and dense, but we ate them anyway and still enjoyed the aroma and taste. 

As pictured at top left, he did not wait for his sister before taking a peek at the gifts waiting for them in the living room.

School Parties

I am the only room mother for my daughter's class at school. Initially, there were two of us, but the creative, crafty mom ended up withdrawing her kids from the school, so now the poor students are stuck with only me.

The teacher posted on Facebook one day that her students were planning a surprise birthday party for her. The kids had been so obvious about it that she could not understand how they could possibly think she did not know about it.  I'm glad I saw that post because that was the first I had heard about a birthday party for her teacher.  With some help from other parents, we pulled off a fun little party for the teacher and collected enough money to buy her some nice gift cards.

We also threw a little Christmas party for the students with games, white elephant gift exchange, and lots of yummy treats.

Christmas Carol Game

The school goes to great lengths to protect students with allergies.  This class has nut, egg, and wheat allergies, so preparing treats for parties can be a challenge.  I thought this sweet sleigh was a clever Christmas snack which also happened to be egg, wheat, and nut free.

During the party, my son's class entered the classroom and gave the students gifts while singing Christmas carols.  His teachers wanted to emphasize that Christmas is about God's gift to us, so we should celebrate by giving to others.

Speaking of giving, our daughter's teacher apologized for not having the monetary resources to buy her students expensive gifts while handing out gift bags to each student.  Inside each gift bag was a print of each student's face on a cat's body.  The teacher also included a wallet size print of her face on a cat's body.  You can't help but respect a teacher who can turn her students into cats!

After the party, I waited at the school for early release.  Then we all gathered again that evening for the school's Christmas program.  It included lots of praise and worship, cute skits, much humor, an elaborate drama, singing, and dancing.  The entire production gave glory to God.

The next day I found the kids in our attic/gym/playroom reenacting the school's Christmas drama.