Dancin’ Grandpa, Swashbuckling Toddler, Peace-Bringing Baby.

Before I get into today’s post, I want to say thanks on behalf of the whole family for the amazing love and support following Saturday’s post.  I was overwhelmed that people we have never even met have taken our worries into your own hearts and have taken the time to let us know that we aren’t waiting or worrying alone. I especially appreciated those of you who said you rarely comment but were commenting on that particular post–it’s always nice to hear from you. Thank you ALL a hundred times over. 

 

As much as I love replying to just about every comment that I get, I had the choice today of either using my time to get a new blog post up or reply to the comments and so I opted for the new post. 

 

Sarah is doing well–she recovered from her three days of intestinal difficulties just in time to be called in unexpectedly for four long workdays. Of course, it may be better for her to fill her time with busyness rather than be at home thinking about the upcoming biopsy.  

Again, thanks to each one of you for your support and prayers–we are blessed to have you as part of our lives.

And now on to our regularly scheduled post . . .

It’s been wonderful having Nathan, Meagan, and Noah in the house during this Christmas season.  They take our calm, quiet, orderly existence and infuse it with bookoodles of joyful chaos, activity, and laughter.

Well, except during nap time, that is. Then we momentarily go back to calm mode.

Nathan’s a little bigger than he was back during his Official Toddler Naps Times but it’s still nice to see him sprawled out by the tree, with his big ol’ Man Feet sticking out from under the blanket.

I miss the little boy who was.

However, the little boy who was has given me a little boy who is, so I’m a happy camper.

Photo by Meagan

Christmas Eve has traditionally been our time for opening presents and this year was no different. The only change we experienced this year was that our tree had no ornaments on the bottom third due to a Certain Toddler on the premises. 

Steve started our gift opening evening as he always has, by reading Luke 2. (By the way, the only reason he’s wearing a tie at home is because when you press a button on it, a cheesy electronic Christmas tune plays.)

Noah stood beside Steve while he read in case he needed help with any of the big words.

When Steve had finished reading, he smoothly segued into the next item on the agenda–giving Noah his first taste of eggnog.

When Noah finished drinking he stared at Grandpa like, ”Really? My parents have been holding out on me all this time?”

He then walked over to share the eggnog joy with Grandma.

Speaking of joy, Nathan was especially overjoyed to receive a fetching pair of Christmas toe socks as one of his gifts. (Steve found them on clearance at CVS and immediately thought they looked sort of Nathan-ish.)

Nathan put them on while Noah tried to figure out what was in one of my presents.

Photo by Meagan

 Noah was particularly thrilled by one gift I got him–a soft plastic pirate’s sword.  He had commandeered my turkey baster in the days before Christmas, turning it into a dastardly pirate weapon so I figured I would improve on his dastardly-ness by transforming him into a real Roanoke Island pirate. He was pumped.

Photo by Meagan

When I wasn’t opening gifts of my own, I stayed busy taking pictures of all the goings-on going on around me.

Photo by Meagan.

And with Noah running back and forth between gifts, toys, and doing adults, there was plenty to take photos of.

One of my favorite things Noah did was to show every single gift he got to Nathan.  He’d stand by Meagan to open it, and then immediately run over to where Nathan was sitting to get his approval and opinion. Every. Single. Time.

It was so very precious to see my son interacting with his son.

Steve went all out on my gift which was a plastic, blinking light necklace. We are a classy family, indeed.  (Just so you don’t worry that’s all I got, he got me several truly classy things, as well.)

For the past fifteen years or so, Steve has been wearing an increasingly threadbare robe and he’d been dropping hints about needing a new robe.  I found a Ralph Lauren robe for just $25 and he was beyond delighted with it  . . . as his funky dance moves will attest to.

Noah was quite entranced by his dancin’ grandpa.

Meagan’s face says, “Yep. That’s my father-in-law, all right!”

The morning after our gift opening, we started on a delectable feast of ham, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, potatoes and gravy, broccoli salad, rolls, and two desserts.

As always, I had plenty of help.

Nathan peeled all my potatoes while watching a game on his phone.  He is one adept multitasker, that fella of mine.

The only things on the menu that I wish hadn’t been there were the Pedialyte and the Pepto-Bismol  for poor Sarah.

As hard as it is for me to believe, in 32 years of marriage we have never before had a Christmas dinner in our own home. Most years we have gone to Charlotte; a couple of years, we made the trip to be with my family but since they live 1300 miles away, that hasn’t always been the easiest thing to accomplish. This year, however, since Steve’s dad is still recovering from his surgery, we decided to stay at home.

As much as we missed being with extended family, it was fun to host our own small gathering, to eat, to talk, to laugh, to put aside for a few moments the worries that have entered our lives and to celebrate the gift of Christmas– the gift of a baby born to bring joy, born to bring hope to a broken planet, born to bring peace to a family who is waiting to see what this next season of life will bring.

Whatever the season, whatever the situation–may there be joy in YOUR world today.