Christmas 2017

I love Christmas.

It is by far one of my favorite holidays. I love the decorations. I love the music. I love the lights. I love the family time. I love the stories and the movies. And I love the meaning of Christmas. Hearing the Christmas story, hearing God's word.

This year has been no different. I will admit, I was a little nervous about how this Christmas would go, the first one since the divorce. How would time get split with Jacob? I was selfishly wanting him to be with me on Christmas but didn't want to take away an opportunity for him to see family he doesn't get to see very often either. Luckily, everything seemed to fall into place. Jacob was able to go down to Des Moines the weekend before Christmas and my dad picked him up on Christmas Eve day to bring him back home.

What from I can tell and was told, Jacob had an absolutely fabulous time in Iowa. He seriously loves his cousins so much!! I saw a few short videos of them playing and it just warms my heart. I hate that they don't get to see each other more. I'm also jealous of the fact that I'm not there anymore to really watch and enjoy that interaction between the three of them. They're at such a fun age with great imaginations. Jacob, of course, loved opening up presents as well! Who doesn't!? And he came home with plenty of new toys and clothes! Although, strangely enough, his favorite "toy" was a tape measure! :) It's always the little things!

I was certainly wrapped up in a lot of Christmas music this year. The Advent Cantata put on at Christ the King was a big one this year. Our director certainly put us to work with a lot of music and not very easy music. But all the hard work absolutely paid off, and we had some great performances. We heard a lot of great compliments. I still find myself singing some of those songs too!

I also agreed to sing at the services on Christmas Eve. While there were a total of four services, the praise band only sang at three. And we had three very difficult songs that included quite a few instruments. I was pretty nervous we weren't going to get the songs ready in time for the service, but we did and they were some really fun songs to sing. While my performing was done after three services, I also went with my mom out to Butternut; she had volunteered to play the piano. And then, Jacob and I went along to the 10pm candlelight service at CTK. So there was plenty of more singing!

But in addition to the singing, I really enjoyed the two messages I heard that day. And I enjoyed how they tied into each other. If you want to hear one of the messages, you can view past services of CTK on their website. But I have a bible journaling entry in mind for these messages so I'll let that speak for itself once I have it done. :)

Once we got home, very late and very much past our bedtime, a very tired Jacob helped me put out cookies and milk and reluctantly let me take his picture in front of the tree before climbing into bed. The next morning, Daddy joined us to see what Santa had brought Jacob! It took a groggy Jacob a moment to realize that Santa had brought presents but when he did, the first thing he noticed was "the booger game!!" Yes, Santa brought Jacob a Gooey Louie game. If you're not familiar with this, you basically pick booger's out of Louie's nose and try not to be the one who blows his brains out. This was what Jacob asked for. Boys. As Daddy worked putting that together, he went through his stocking, getting very excited about the chocolate and wanting it for breakfast. There was also a stuffed toy that Jacob had basically thrown aside in his excitement to get to the booger game, but when I held it out to him and asked him what it was, he happily yelled "It's the Grinch!!" How the Grinch Stole Christmas has been a favorite book and movie of Jacob's this year. He can practically recite the whole book himself. He was very excited to have his own Grinch. He opened some other presents that weren't quite as exciting - new PJs, socks, underwear - and then got to open the biggest present under the tree. It was a dinosaur attack playset from his dad. As soon as Jacob saw that big dinosaur, oh boy! He started yelling and jumping up and down - "dinosaur! dinosaur! dinosaur! dinosaur!" :) Let's just say, it was a big hit.

Later that day, we had a nice mid-afternoon meal of appetizers and desserts. Meg made it home and Missy & Joe and Grandma and Grandpa joined us. Jacob also got to open another present from his great-grandparents - a big book on the t-rex! These people know Jacob. :)

Daniel and Josh got home on Wednesday night and Daniel brought the flu with him. :-/ On Friday, we celebrated our family Christmas. We opened presents that morning while we ate sticky buns. We had a big Christmas dinner that evening. It finally felt like Christmas was here. Mom and Dad both got exactly what they wanted for Christmas, without any surprise, thanks in part to Amazon and Jacob. haha For a sibling exchange, we did books. It started out as a cookbook exchange but a well known fact about me is that I don't cook. So I have no need for a cookbook. Well, Dan had my name and when I opened the box - a cookbook on the basics, including over 1000 pictures! My brother is so funny. My dad said I have to cook supper twice a month now. I must think of some sort of revenge. But Daniel also got me two books that were actually on my list, so maybe not any big revenge....

Jacob, of course, continued to get spoiled by everyone. Books and dinosaurs and toys! He also got a new dinosaur bed set and dinosaur lamp for his room. I'm hoping this will be exciting for Jacob as we transition him into sleeping in his own bed again. Wish me luck. He also got a toy from Nana and Papa that he had seen in the store - Mr. Dusty - a dump truck that scoops up toys like legos. He literally jumped up and down when he opened that gift. The only problem with this toy? The noise was not on when we viewed it in the store. It's loud and obnoxious and has a very short list of phrases. Haha. But Jacob loves it. Actually, I don't think there was anything that he didn't really love.

We also played a small "game". Mom bought a bunch of small gifts from the Dollar Tree and wrapped them all up. Then we took turns pulling gifts out of the bag and opening them. Or if someone else got something we wanted, we could steal. It was pretty fun, but Jacob was definitely the most excited! He just loves opening presents! :)

On Saturday, we had another family gathering with my dad's side of the family. There were a lot of people in our house, a lot of kids and noise, and a lot of food and drink. It was nice to see so many family members and enjoy that time together. The basement did become a bit of a madhouse when the kids discovered the trampoline... hehe

The rest of the holidays were spent just spending time together, binge watching the Crown on Netflix and playing some games. It's always hard when we have to say goodbye to everyone, but it definitely makes us appreciate our time together.

Overall, it was a very successful Christmas season.