Love is Patient: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!

I absolutely LOVE Christmas!!! It has been my favorite time of year ever since I can remember. I know that a large part of the reason why I love it so much is because of all the special things that my parents did for both me and my little brother when we were growing up. Santa Claus was a huge deal at our house and my parents started this fun tradition from the time we were babies. I remember one year my dad had started a fire in the fireplace on Christmas Eve and when I woke up there was a boot mark in the soot...Santa Claus's boot obviously! Another year, Santa left behind a piece of his velvet red pants that he must have accidentally torn on the fireplace screen when arriving or trying to go back up the chimney. When Michael was born, I was 5 and Santa Claus became so much more fun. I had a partner in crime to rush into the living room with to see what Santa had left us on Christmas morning. We However, my parents always made us wake them up before we ran into the living room to see all our goodies. They would go and turn on the Christmas tree lights, turn on the Christmas lights outside, turn on Christmas music (Neil Diamond's Christmas of course), turn on the lights in the living room so they could see us, and set-up the video camera so that they could catch our reactions as well as us opening everything. As soon as they told us they were ready, we made a bee line for the living room. When Michael was little, he started sleeping on a pallet on the floor in my room so that we could wake up together on Christmas morning. This tradition actually lasted up until Cody and I got married. The last year that I lived at home before the wedding, Cody slept in Michael's room and Michael still made a pallet on the floor in my room. In fact, the first couple of years we lived in our house, Michael would stay in our guest room and when we were all ready to go across the street, we would call my parents and tell them we were ready. They would still make us wait until they got everything set-up before we could walk over. My parents still do Santa Claus for us even though we're all in our twenties...some of us late twenties...but I won't mention any names!

Our Christmas traditions have been the same ever since I can remember and I love that it's that way. It makes me think about my childhood and just the warmth of having family all around and being together with each other. On Christmas Eve, we always open the presents that we got for one another. The youngest opens one first and we go all the way around to the oldest and then start over again until all the presents are opened. Then, we watch Christmas movies, usually the Santa Claus, then head to bed and try to get some sleep before Christmas morning. My daddy always makes sausage balls and we still call (or text) before we walk across the street to do stockings and Santa presents. Neil Diamond's Christmas CD's still plays in the background and to to this day, they are my favorite Christmas songs.

After we open our stockings and have breakfast, Cody and I usually go back home to get ready for Christmas lunch. Depending on the year, we either eat lunch here in Abilene or go to my Mimi's house in Hamilton and have Christmas lunch with my mom's side of the family. This year, we spent Christmas Even in Hamilton with my aunt, uncle, cousins, their spouses, and the two kiddos that one of them has. Our families are the same when it comes to how many children my mom and aunt had as well as the gender of each of us. My aunt had Amber first, then Drew a few years later. My mom had me first, and Michael nearly 6 years later. We are not that far apart in age and have always been close. Chad and Amber have been married now for nearly 11 years and have two precious puppies. Drew and Tamara have been married for almost 8 years and have two boys, Hunter will be 8 this year and Maddox will be 4...I think. My Mimi was really excited that we were all going to be there this year. Her entire family that now consists of 14 people, including herself, were all together for Christmas and spent time eating, laughing, and talking for an entire afternoon. Time goes by fast though, and shortly after lunch we headed back to Abilene to celebrate Christmas with our own little family.

This year, our traditions were still similar, but also a little bit different. We are all older now, and really, there is nothing that any of us need that we couldn't go and buy for ourselves. So, we decided that we would all get together, my family and Cody's family, and adopt a family and provide a Christmas for them that they might not otherwise have. It was probably the most fun Christmas we've had in a long time. We all got together one Sunday evening and went shopping for a sweet mommy to a four year old Autistic little boy. She also has two other children, two girls, one lives with her grandmother and the other lives with her dad. This precious family was so sweet and it was so overwhelming to see the look on that little boy's face when we came over to their house to drop off the presents. We were truly blessed by this family and got to see the real reason why we celebrate Christmas right here on earth. Before we left, we all joined hands and prayed together. Christmas is such a wonderful time of year. It's a time to be with your family, to just sit back and enjoy things and not rush around like you do every other day, but it's also a time to remember and celebrate our Lord and Savior's birth. It's so much fun to do presents, Santa Claus, and stockings, but to be able to do it for someone else has truly blessed all of our lives more than we know.

When Christmas day rolled around, I called dad soon after we had gotten up and he told us to come over around 8:30. He always makes the best sausage balls, but I thought I would add a few more dishes to the breakfast table this year. I made a overnight breakfast hash brown casserole, sticky bun breakfast ring, and baked cranberry banana oatmeal. After all that was done cooking, it was about time for us to head over for breakfast and stockings. My parents still decided to do stockings for all us kids (which I was secretly excited about because I always loved seeing what Santa had brought me in my stocking) so after breakfast, we dug into our stockings to see what we had gotten. All of us got pretty much the same thing, some candy, a blanket, new pj's, and a few other things that we each love and are unique to us and our personalities. We stayed over there for about an hour after breakfast and then headed back home to watch a movie or two and spend some time with our babies before we went back over for lunch. I love that Lifetime always plays tons of Christmas movies from right after Thanksgiving all the way through Christmas day. So, we just turned it on and watched the movies that were playing while we relaxed and waited for lunch to be ready. My parents cooked the traditional meal...and it was SO good! We had turkey, ham, dressing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, green beans, cranberry salad, and pumpkin pie. Needless to say we were stuffed! In fact, we were a little worried we wouldn't be hungry for dinner. Which normally wouldn't be a big deal, but Michael's girlfriend and her family had invited us over for Christmas dinner that evening. Thank goodness we finally got hungry because that meal was also delicious! They had fried turkey, steaks, two different kinds of green beans, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, a salad, and a huge veggie spread with lots of yummy dips. We spent the rest of the evening talking and spending time together before heading back home. Cody and I stayed up for another couple of hours just laying on the couch with the three dogs piled up there with us. We watched another movie and just enjoyed the fact that we could actually spend some much needed time together and not have to worry about the next place that we needed to go or having to cross something off a to-do list. Christmas was so much fun and we enjoyed just getting to stay home and spend the entire day together with our families and our sweet puppies!

The day after Christmas, Cody's family came over for Christmas dinner with us that evening. I debated and debated and went back and forth a million times on whether to cook a traditional Christmas dinner or do something super non-traditional. The more and more I thought about it, the more and more I was craving the traditional Christmas meal. Even though we had already had two traditional meals, one at my Mimi's and one at my parent's, it just doesn't seem like Christmas unless you get the full fledged traditional meal. Then, I was on a mission to scout out the yummiest recipes to make for our family's dinner. Of course, I could have just used family recipes. But I like to find new recipes and put my own little spin on them. Thanks to Pinterest and the 20 plus food blogs I follow, I came up with some pretty amazing recipes that I was super excited to try out...and eat! Here's what I made: a brown sugar-pineapple glazed ham topped with pineapple slices from Taste of Home, traditional stuffing (I made alterations to it) from The Pioneer Woman, sweet potato casserole from Skinny Taste, green bean casserole from For the Love of Cooking, pumpkin pie from Skinny Taste, and a pecan pie from The Pioneer Woman. I also bought some King's Hawaiian rolls and made our family's holiday punch recipe that we make every year. It's made with orange juice, cranberry juice, and ginger ale...and it's so good! Cody's family came over around 6:30 and we had so much fun eating, talking, and spending time together. The whole gang was there: Cody's parents, his sister, her hubby, and their three kiddos were all able to make it so that we could enjoy Christmas dinner together. Everyone loved all the food, and there were even leftovers. Which I was super excited about because this kind of meal is so, so yummy leftover! There wasn't much though, but I promise it all got eaten! I actually need to make another pecan pie because it's Cody's favorite and he only got one piece of it. His company went on a little vacation to Ruidoso that next morning and got back that Thursday. But, by the time he had gotten home, it had long since been devoured. I wonder by whom.... The dogs were also glad to see everyone. When people come over to our house, they think that everyone there is there to see them. We have so much fun with Cody's family and it even seemed like a continuation of celebrating because Chrissy had just graduated a few days before they came over for Christmas. So, that was super fun! The kids are growing up so fast and it amazes me to watch how fast little Aaron is growing. I swear it was just yesterday that we were going to Del Rio to celebrate his birth and he'll be two in June! Airicka will be driving this summer...on her own and Eli is going to be a teenager in a few days. What?!?!?! Time really does fly by. But, we savored every moment with them while they were at the house and just enjoyed being together as a family. Christmas has been so much fun this year...but it's not over yet!

New Year's was fast approaching and one of our very best friend's birthday is on New Year's Eve! How much fun would that be?!?!? We decided awhile before her birthday that we would get together at Brent and Bria's for brunch on New Year's Day. On New Year's Eve, we each did our own thing. Dallas cooked an amazing birthday/New Year's Eve celebration dinner for Britian including stuffed lobster, steak, and asparagus. Brent had to work all day and night (he's a fireman) and Bria also had to work a shift at the gym, so she just went home afterwards to relax and have dinner. She's about to have their little girl, Jansen, so she was thankful to have a nice, quiet evening at home. And Cody and I just spent the entire day together watching TV shows on Netflix. We literally laid on the couch all day long watching episode after episode of season 1 of a show that I will not name because I've been threatened to not expose this information to anyone! I got Cody addicted to a show that is not very manly and I promised to keep it a secret...hehe! I cooked dinner for us that night and we celebrated the new year with our three loves while watching Netflix all night long. The next day, we headed over to Brent and Bria's for brunch and a birthday celebration for Britian. Bria made pancakes, two different kinds of quiche, fruit, cream cheese rolls, and mimosas. It was amazing and we stuffed ourselves full! We sat around the table and just visited for a long time before it was time to play the Wii. The boys played games and we went in Jansen's room and just sat on the floor and talked for several hours. Shortly after, we got a little hungry and headed downstairs for a quick snack and then right back upstairs and watched the boys play the Wii...they are so funny! They were yelling and laughing...so competitive but so funny at the same time! Everyone brought their own meat to put on the grill for dinner, Bria made some side dishes to go along with it, and then the Cowboy's game was watched. It was an amazing way to bring in the new year and just made me even more thankful for the precious people that God has put in my life. I truly have such amazing family and friends!

And finally, this past weekend, we finally got around to going to Kerrville to see my Grandma and celebrate Christmas with her. It's been kinda crazy with all her treatments as well as her recovery from the surgery. But, we managed to get down there to visit her. She was fighting a cold, but was feeling amazingly well. The reason that we didn't go down there the week after Christmas like we normally do is because she had had a chemo treatment on the 27th. We wanted to make sure that she was feeling well enough after her treatment to accommodate us, so we decided waiting until the next weekend to go down and visit would be the best thing to do. It's been amazing though, she hasn't really felt bad at all throughout all her chemo treatments. In fact, I think the only time that she ever really felt queasy and didn't have much of an appetite was after the second treatment. This last one she just had was her sixth treatment. She'll have just one more, so seven in all, and then only have to go in for routine check-ups to make sure that the cancer is still gone. Gone...that's insane to even think about considering what we were told in the beginning. My Grandma's close to being in remission, this is completely God's healing hands performing miracles on this earth in front of our very eyes. I honestly have to say that we had one of the best weekends down in Kerrville that we've had in a long time. Cody and my dad went down there on Friday night and stayed down at the ranch so they could hunt or do whatever else...like relax...which is exactly what they did! Mom, Michael, and I got up early on Saturday morning and got there around lunch time. We decided to go straight into Comfort, pick up the boys, and head to Boerne to eat at this amazing little place called Hungry Horse. My grandma and cousin met us for lunch and we all ate and enjoyed every bite...this place is just so good! After we ate, all the boys went back to the ranch and we headed back towards Kerrville. When we got into the actual town of Comfort, us girls stopped at the Comfort Candle Store, picked up a few goodies, then went back to my grandma's house. We sat around and visited for a little while, then my grandma got a little tired and decided to go rest for a bit. Mom and I headed into town to piddle for a little bit and go to a few of Kerrville's little boutiques before it was time to go back home for dinner. We decided to just eat at home, but order food from Fuddruckers, and just go pick it up so that we could just be at home and eat...but not have to do any of the work! After dinner, we did our family Christmas, and then just sat around and visited for a little while before the boys left to go back to the ranch. After they left, we stayed up and talked a little more, but we were all so tired, we went to bed pretty soon after they left. That next morning, mom and I always go into town and get coffee...we're spoiled! Getting coffee from a coffee shop just makes the morning better. Don't get me wrong...I love making coffee at home...but a little treat every now and again is good for the soul! We got some for both of us as well as for my grandma. She was still asleep when we left, so we just got some for her just in case she wanted some when she got up. When all of us were up, caffeinated, filled full from breakfast, and ready for the day, we decided to head back into town and do some shopping before the boys came in for lunch. My grandma went with us this time because she was feeling really good, and we seriously had the best time. We went to a couple of stores and just got some odds and ends, some fun goodies, and I even got a new mixing bowl! I was super excited about this because I broke my big one that I mix everything in over the Thanksgiving holidays. About the time we were finishing up, the boys had called that they were in town and bringing a deer into the processors that they had shot the night before. Spotlighting is illegal...but we have those Axis deer on our place and they're exotic. So, those can be shot at night with a spotlight, which is exactly what they did on Saturday night. They got one Axis doe and were bringing her in before they met us for lunch. We met up at Cracker Barrel, a family favorite, and had an amazing lunch. The predicament that all of us have there is whether to order breakfast or lunch. I decided that I would just have both! So, I ordered off the kids meal so that I could have exactly what I wanted and not have to sacrifice their delicious breakfast or their yummy lunch. I got the kids chicken tenders with a side salad and a pancake...oh so good! I got a bonus too because my mom ordered the big pancake breakfast and gave me one of her pancakes...I love their pancakes! Everyone else got breakfast and my dad and I also had some coffee to go along with our meal. We spent a lot of time together throughout the weekend and enjoyed everyone's company as well as the conversations that went along with it. After lunch, we packed up and headed home. It's always hard to come back home from being out of town all weekend long, but it is so worth it when you get to spend precious time with family. The entire Christmas break was spent enjoying every moment with family and friends, relaxing, and just being ever so thankful for my wonderful family and precious friends! Happy New Year!!!

My beautiful cousin...love her so much!!!

Me and Cody with my cousin Amber and her hubby Chad

All of us kiddos!

The kids plus the little kids!

Sweet Mimi with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren

My Mimi's ENTIRE family. Two daughters, two son-in-laws, four grandchildren, three grandchildren-in-laws, and two great grandchildren...what an accomplishment for such a wonderful woman. We love you so much Mimi!!!