Best Christmas Present Ever!

Our family Christmas this year was at my house.  We just moved to the Boise area and somehow ended up about the same distance from everyone's house.  TJ got us a big ole house so it only seemed logical that our house would be where the Christmas party would take place.  I had been planning and shopping for months.  I love to plan menus, and arrange all the details for stuff.  It was like I was planning a retreat at my own house, it was so fun.  I was flying in my 20 year old niece a few days early to help me with all the food shopping and food prep, everything was falling together just as planned.

Then, my sister in law found out she needed to have her thyroid taken out and her surgery was scheduled for December 23rd.  This meant my brother's family was not coming for Christmas and my niece would not be flying into to help me.  I cried.

For three days.

I couldn't imagine Christmas with out their family.  And it was at my house this year!  I wanted them to be here.  It was also the last Christmas we would all be together.  My brother, Clint, and his family are moving to Ethiopia next week and who knows when we will all be together again.  It was just down right sad.  I kept moving forward with my holiday plans but some of the joy and anticipation for the holiday had been sucked out.  I was falling a bit behind on my house work and was counting on my procrastination adrenaline to kick in on Friday and get the house cleaned before people started arriving that evening.

Thursday we did our family Christmas with the kids, went to a nice dinner and drove around and looked at Christmas lights.  It was very fun.  We left the house a total mess and just enjoyed the day.  We got home around 10:00pm and TJ was putting the kids in bed, I was walking around the house feeling overwhelmed by the mess I needed to deal with and still a bit sad about the absence of my brother's family.

The door bell rang and there was a loud knock.  I looked out the window to see who it was and there they were...ALL SIX MEMBERS of my brother's family!  I unlocked the door, flew it open and did a REALLY loud screaming dance for quite a few minutes.  I couldn't believe it, they were here!  Christmas was complete.  My joy was back!  And my house was so embarrassingly messy!  Oh well.

My sister in law's surgery got postponed (I may or may not have been praying for something like that to happen. HA) so they jumped in the car and came.  And it was perfectly wonderful.  We were all together, all 23 of us for five days.  We played so many games of cards, ate so much food, conversed, laughed, cried, and watched all the little cousins drink in their time together, they had so much fun!  It was perfect.

Who knows what Christmas' will look like from now on or our summer gatherings but I am thankful for surprises and God's blessings and that this Christmas turned out just as it should have, all of us together at my house.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you were surrounded by those you love.

Happy Holidays!
Ronda