Christmas At Our House

Although I've had a little more time lately, for some reason I just haven't gotten back into the blogging habit. Probably due to the fact that even though I've had more time, I'm 8 months pregnant, so I'm exhausted by the end of the day, regardless!

We've had a wonderful Christmas. I've had a little extra time off, which has been such a blessing. The holiday season is a busy one when you're in the pastor-business, so having to put in a little less office time has been nice. I actually managed to complete my shopping on Monday and not have to brave the big crowds in those last few days before Christmas. They were bad enough on Monday!

My sisters came "home" (to San Diego) yesterday just in time for the Christmas Eve service. Our whole family went to the service and then we ate spaghetti with homemade sauce after. YUM!

Although we enjoy the gift-giving and receiving, for my family, holidays are all about the food! It has to be homemade or high quality. Bean picked up our 2 pounds of See's Candy yesterday which we promptly broke into while we waiting for the pasta to cook! Christmas morning we made Monkey Bread with homemade biscuit dough (I think the refridgerator biscuits have an aftertaste). Eggs and chorizo are also a staple and beef sausage.

Bean found out about a very authentic mexican food shop that makes amazing tamales for Christmas. He ordered 2 dozen, along with tortillas, beans and rice. Even though we reheated it all today---it was pretty much the best Mexican food EVER! Very authentic and completely delicious. We are pretty sure it's going to be a new holiday tradition.

The girls enjoyed Christmas of course. I was very proud of Miss Rose because she kept a very good attitude, even when her gifts were all opened and was very thankful for everything. My little tomboy's highlight was a nerf dart gun from her uncle. She's a crack up. Gracie is really enjoying a shopping cart and toy vacuum she can push around the house. I'm excited about purging the current toy stash in the packing process since they will be focused on their new stuff.

I can't wait to be back to my regular running routine as Bean got me the Nike+ accessory and another pair of shoes. It will track my runs as well as a variety of other things. Much cheaper than a GPS running device (especially when you have a friend who gets discounts!). Bean only wanted loppers and shears for yardwork at the new house.

Probably my favorite moment of the day though, was when we were putting Miss Rose to bed. She asked to pray (usually Bean or I pray) and her prayer consisted of thanking God for Christmas and all the blessings and gifts and that it was Jesus' Birthday. YES! She gets it!!

I find it pretty amusing that she adamantly doesn't believe in Santa. I wasn't raised with that tradition, so I haven't really pressed it with her. She seems to understand that some kids do believe in Santa though. My favorite moments are when other adults will ask her if she's written him a letter and she'll say (in her sassy voice) "he's not real, he's just a story." I was not the one to make her adamant about it. She chose that stance all on her own!

That is a little picture of Christmas at our house. I hope that Christmas at your house as your kind of wonderful!