Author: Breezy Point Mom
•9:34 PM

December 29, 2011 9:34 p.m.

We have had the best Christmas time this year.  Nothing especially stands out, except that we have really enjoyed all our time together.  Self-Reliant Man is off from work for twelve days in a row, and it has been such a blessing to me.  We have really enjoyed our time together so far.  As I look back, I am reminded of many details of the past weeks.

Such as… our tree topper!  In past years, it has been a struggle getting our tree topper to stand up straight and look good.  So I put on a temporary tree topper while I looked around for a new one.  I called it our redneck tree topper.  What do you think?

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Finally I got out and found a nice white angel tree topper in Gralween’s.  See?

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I thought it was okay, but my family secretly thought it was a little bit too frou-frou for our style of Christmas tree.  But they didn’t have to worry about it long, because a long time friend showed up at our door one day with a package.

The package contained this:

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She and her husband felt sorry for us when they saw the red solo cup, and decided to part with an old tree topper of their own.  So this one is the winner.  After all, gifts (in this case, tree toppers) from long time friends are the best, are they not?

One other way that our children have been passing the time is by playing and singing hymns out of our church hymnal.  These times give me big smiles and lots of joy!

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Chips talked about how nice it would be to have a Christmas train around our Christmas tree.   He proceeded to get out his grandfather’s old Lionel and converted it into a Christmas train.  What do you think of that?

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And Sweet Girl got together some old Christmas village decorations and made a simple littl village on our window seat.  I think she started a new tradition here. 

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On Christmas Eve, my neighbor brought over her elderly and frail mother to hear Chips and Sweet Girl put on a short violin concert.  You see, her mother is the surviving widow of the man whose violin Chips has been playing for the past year.  So she not only appreciated our children’s performance, but she also loved hearing that old violin getting played.   She couldn’t speak very much, but the smile spoke volumes!  It is great when you can minister to others right in your own home.

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Sweet Girl prepared a simple dessert to make our Christmas Eve evening extra special.

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The stockings were hung by the chimney with care…

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in hopes that St. Nick soon would be there!

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And mom in her kerchief, more or less, wrapped gifts outside in the breezeway after they went to bed.  You can only do this in Florida when you have a Christmas as mild as we had!

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And here is the tree all ready for Christmas morning to come.  Christmas Eve truly remains my very favorite night of all.  It is so magical!

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Here are the children showing some of their favorite presents..

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In between, I have been getting some much needed Spring cleaning finished.  After all, once homeschool begins again, I will be hard pressed to find time to get any of that sort of thing done.  My home is sparkling!  And you know what?   A scrub brush on your hands and knees really gets the job done much better than any mop.

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In the evenings we have eaten popcorn and watched Christmas videos.  Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Carol, and The Polar Express (at this writing). 

And to top it all off, we enjoyed a family bicycle ride yesterday on a truly beautiful day.  It was really a happy time. 

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These are truly good, wonderful, and precious days.  Happy days.  Cherished days.  Just being healthy, just being all together.  Days I look forward to all year long.

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1 comments:

On December 30, 2011 at 6:33 PM , Marjie said...

Your Christmas seems to have felt much as mine did: nothing stands out so much as the whole wonderful, loving week together. Your children are so lucky that you and your husband found them from half way across the world. You have formed the most loving family one could imagine, and I can tell you've all given each other enormous amounts of joy. I wish you all a blessed and joyous New Year, from my contented family to yours.