Merry Christmas!

When I was a child, most Christmas Eves were spent in Jamestown at Pop and Gran's house (my dad's parents).  Except for a few Christmas Eves spent in Virginia, my main memory is of Pop and Dad getting everyone up at around 5:30 in the morning (I think there may have even been a year or two where we were up before 5:00).  Note, it was not the KIDS getting up at 5:00 am, but the ADULTS!  I always remember waiting outside the living room while my dad went in to check to see if Santa had come...there were always five "kids - me and my sister, and the three Schureman cousins.  When the time was finally right, he would pull open the door and we'd rush in to find five piles of gifts (our Santa gifts were always wrapped).  Well, John definitely has some "Pop" in him, because he woke up for the first time on Christmas at about 3:00 am.  He asked if it would be okay if he played on his iTouch until 7:00, which is the earliest I told him we would get up (I know, my dad and Pop would be sorely disappointed in me!), and we of course told him, "NO!"  At 7:05, he came rushing to our bed to show us what Santa had left under the tree in his room (a UK baseball hat), and I knew there was no going back to sleep.  He went and dragged Sarah out of bed and within minutes we were downstairs experiencing another year of Christmas morning magic.  

There was a new field hockey stick, Kindle Fire and shoes for Sarah, and an airsoft gun, baseball bat and Randall Cobb Packers jersey for John.  Throw in a few fun filled stockings, and you had two happy, excited kids.

She's ready to play! 

Yes, that's a Justin Bieber toothbrush!

Ready for the NFL

After seeing what Santa brought we exchanged gifts with one another.  Sarah gave John a new batting helmet, and he gave her a bottle of Wonderstruck perfume (Taylor Swift's scent!).  This is what he had gone to Macy's for at midnight on Black Friday, and it's been waiting under the tree for her since that very day.  We gave Lawrence a new set of golf clubs, and we surprised the kids with a trip to Copper Mountain over President's Day weekend.  Oh, and I got a Kindle Fire too!  So excited about that...I never am without my Kindle, and now the Fire gives me access to the web and other apps too - love it!  I also got a new camera lens which I can't wait to play with.  

It was so warm on Christmas he actually thought
about playing that afternoon! 

Batter up!

Someone's excited about the ski trip

Copper Mountain, here we come!

New perfume!

After gifts, I cooked our traditional Christmas morning breakfast, which consists of breakfast casserole (using the Joy Class recipe from my Jamestown Christian Church cookbook), potato casserole (also the Joy Class recipe), and cinnamon rolls (the Pillsbury recipe - Sarah's favorite!).  I made some pretty Christmas punch and we sat down to a yummy breakfast.

Breakfast is served

After breakfast we went back to sleep for a while (all of us except John, who trolled the house with his airsoft gun for about two hours), and then Lawrence and I watched "White Christmas".  I had never seen it, and whenever I mention this to people they are shocked, so I rented it that afternoon and Lawrence and I laughed at the movie set and the old fashionedness of it all.  But I have to admit, I cried at the end, and then put on Bing Crosby that afternoon while I was getting ready to go over to Dick's for dinner.  

We had a lovely Christmas day - peace, joy, love, health, and a Savior.  How could I ask for more?

Twas the Night Before Christmas

In the days leading up to Christmas Eve, there were moments when I thought I was going to come undone.  I'm not really sure why, other than I just felt overwhelmed with work, shopping, planning...trying to spend time with friends while also keeping a running "to do" list in my head at all times - all the things most Americans are dealing with in the month of December!  My friend Anna and I kept quoting a funny napkin I had seen - "She's one plum pudding away from a Yuletide meltdown!"  But then Christmas Eve came, and everything was done, and God just gave me an incredible sense of peace as we officially started "Christmas."  We met Rich, Lori and Tanner at church that afternoon, and we had time to visit before the service started.  She was a little worried about Taylor, this being his first Christmas not at home, and he hadn't been on Facebook for a few days.  She said she was trying not to dwell on him not being here, but still, it was hard.  After all, he's only 19!  

After church we all came back to our house and soon the kitchen was filled with the Millner clan, Nana and Badoo.  We were eating and visiting and again, all the little chores that go into planning the holiday just sort of fade away and you just start enjoying the moment.  Sarah had everyone watch "A Social Network Christmas" on YouTube, which is a really clever video someone made as if Mary and Joseph were on Facebook at the time Jesus was born.  We also had the computer all set up in the den so that we could Skype with Taylor later that night (it's truly a modern Christmas!).  

After dinner we all gathered to open gifts.  No matter how old you are, this is always fun!

Sarah thanks Badoo for an iTunes gift card

MT, Tony and Sydney gave John this great shark hat...

... to match his remote control helium shark
Badoo got him!  Scary!!!!

We gave Sydney a silver charm bracelet - she
loves to collect things so hopefully she'll
collect lots of charms! 

We were about half way through opening all the gifts when our doorbell rang.  We were expecting Taylor's friend Conner to stop by to say hello so Sarah jumped up to get the door.  From the foyer we heard her say "It's Taylor!", which I thought was really obnoxious of her...I mean, she knows that Rich and Lori are missing him, and I thought to myself how I was going to have to talk to her later about being more sensitive to other's feelings, but then I glanced into the foyer and saw it really WAS Taylor!  It took a minute for it to even register that it was him - he's supposed to be in Romania!  Needless to say, Lori went nuts.  She screamed and cried and threw her arms around her boy - what a Christmas surprise!  Rich didn't seem too surprised - he was standing there video taping the whole thing, which HE had planned two months ago!  I can't believe he didn't tell a single soul!

This was so fun, definitely one of the biggest surprises I've personally seen.  The pure joy for their family  was so cool to see (we were all happy to see him, but you know, for his mom, dad and Tanner, it was really special, I'm sure).  No one cared anymore about opening gifts...the cousins just wanted him to play in the basement like in years past!  I think Lori just wanted to look at him all night, and as much as he's enjoying Romania, I think Taylor just loved being home.

I would say Rich got all he wanted for Christmas

We visited for several more hours and enjoyed one more year of everyone being home for Christmas.  Soon it was late and time for everyone to head back to their homes.  

A happy family of four... 

..plus their angel Conner who helped pull off the surprise 

Merry Christmas from all the Youngs

After everyone went home it was time to hang our stockings and get ready for Santa.  Sarah indulged me with my annual photo in front of the stockings, next to the cookies and milk that John left out.  The years are going by fast...when will I learn to not worry about the holiday "to do" list and just enjoy my "little" ones being at home?  I know it may not always be that way, but for this Christmas Eve, they are here, and that's all the gift I need.

And to all, a good night!

Christmas at Meme's and Papa's

Today we celebrated Christmas with my side of the family with our annual brunch at Mom's and Dad's.  We always get together the Sunday before Christmas, so after church we headed over and had a delicious meal with Mom, Dad and the Hamiltons.  We had such a nice morning catching up and exchanging gifts...the kids are all still young enough to want to know "how much longer" until we can start opening presents!  Here's a highlight of our exchange...

Our wonderful hosts!

Bruce gets ready to open his super sonic Nerf gun

Stadium seats for Meme and Papa!  Now maybe
they won't be so uncomfortable at all the
sporting events they go to!

A Nerf gun for John too

Claire's ready for the Belk Bowl! 

An Apricot Lane gift card?? For me?!?

Joe's new favorite show - Modern Family Seasons 1 and 2

Time for Boot Camp!

How did you know I wanted this game?  

All the rage - PINK items from Victoria's Secret

Claire picked Uncle Lumpy out a Louisville tumbler!

Yes, he asked for this - a new robe

Merry Christmas from the Antles!

Ho Ho Ho!  Another fun year!

Tis The Season

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here!  The house has been decorated since Thanksgiving...

Our tree

The nativity is glowing

Glad tidings arrive each day

The dining room is ready for Christmas Eve dinner

Signs of the season

Our message board tells how much longer until
the big day!

We took this idea from John's chapel teacher this year.  Instead of counting how many days until Christmas (and debating, do we count today?), her family counts how many "sleeps" until Christmas morning.  We liked this thought, so we've been counting down the nights.  

I've been having lots of ups and downs this holiday season.  I go through this every year, vascilating between moments of peace and reflection and spasms of panic and stress.  There's so much I want to do, and so many experiences I want to provide the kids...so many expectations (mostly unrealistic ones), and so many tasks to be done.  It is difficult to discern what is urgent, and what is truly important...I find myself in a tug of war each day of the season, but when I look back on the days I see all the blessings that are there. This week was a good one...very busy, but filled with fun.  On Wednesday I went to chapel at school, where John's class performed a lovely song and recited a fantastic poem about slowing down and basking in Christ's love during the holiday season.  It was wonderful!

On Thursday I chaperoned his class's trip to the Center for the Arts to see "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever", which is my favorite children's Christmas story.  It was so good!  We laughed so hard at the play and the kids who performed were great.

On Thursday night I went to the Mohr Results Adventure Boot Camp Christmas Party with all the ladies who have done boot camp for the entire year in 2011.  This was a really great night.  I was telling Lawrence when I got home how inspired I was to be around so many women who have committed to taking care of themselves and living their best life.  I've been working out with the Mohrs for two and half years, and I can honestly say it has changed my life in so many positive ways.  As I look back on the year with them, I'm proud of all the work I've put in to stay healthy.  I've committed to another year (along with Shannon!), so I'm looking forward to celebrating another fit year in December of 2012!

Love my fellow fit chicks!

On Friday I went to help out at John's Christmas party at school.  Sarah's class had a breakfast that morning, but she prefers I lay low for those events, so I enjoyed one of my last "elementary" parties.  John had a ball with his friends, and he loved the Frosty the Snowman that Mrs. Dennison gave everyone.  

Last night Lawrence and I went to our favorite holiday party of the season, my "work" party at my boss's house.  Every year my boss, Gary, has a big game night party for our team, and it is fun from start to finish.  He puts an insane amount of time into planning out the games, the teams and the prizes...this year he even made us watch an instructional video of all the games before we started.  It was hilarious!

Throughout the night you win points for how well you do at each game, and then you win play money based on what place you come in.  At the end of the night he and his wife, Carrie, auction off a huge assortment of prizes, which you bid on with your money.  The kids love to see what we come home with every year...this year it was a yard game, an Under Armor workout shirt, some Bath & Body Works goodies, a DVD, a picture frame and a garden gnome (Lawrence's favorite).  

First we start with dinner...

Then we received our video instructions!

Lawrence takes on the Kinect!

Curtis and Josh battle it out with the air "guns"

Time for the Dirty Santa gift exchange...
Matt wins the "bearded hat"

Meg attempts the Angry Birds slingshot game

Craig (dressed as a skunk - don't ask!), awards
this year's winner, Jeremy

Lori and Curtis clean up in the auction

Our auctioneer, Carrie, keeps the auction rolling!

Tomorrow we continue our celebrations with the Antle family brunch.  I better get busy, only 9 sleeps until Christmas!