I Corinthians 13 - a Christmas Version

Photo by: D Sharon Pruitt

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls - but do not show love to my family, I’m just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime - but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity - but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata - but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.  Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.  Love is kind, though harried and tired.  Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.  Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way.  Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who can't.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails.  Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust - but giving the gift of love will endure.

(source unknown)

The Original

Merry Christmas!

Wishing Jesus a very Happy Birthday today!
Thanks so much for loving me in spite of me.

I hope you're enjoying good times with your friends and family - 
in all its fun and sometimes awkward glory.
Please excuse me while I try to earn a bigger jeans size
and play with all of my children's awesome toys and crafts for a few days.

Love,
Bill and Grace

Esperanza  Gianna  Isabella  and  Evangeline

Christmas Eve Shenanigans

We spent a Merry Christmas Eve with my parents and my sister and her husband:
small breakfast for the girls
gift opening with Bill and the girls
brunch (tocino, eggs, rice, and samporado) at my parent's with Evan and Sarah
home to tidy up the house and cook a few things
my parents, Evan and Sarah come over for dinner and gifts
Mom and Sarah bring ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, palabok, and rolls
I have beverages (try this Wassail recipe!), sweet potato casserole and corn casserole
sweet friends drop by
girls' annual Christmas "performance"

family gift exchange

We can't wait to meet Samantha!

 

1 day 'til Christmas!

BakeFest and Christmas Town

I spent the morning baking, baking, and baking with the girls' "help."

After all that, we headed to Christmas Town at Busch Gardens with our friends (we love them!).

This is the first year we've been able to go, and it was lots of fun.  The weather was perfect, and the crowds weren't bad at all.  We were kind of nervous waiting in line for the Festhaus, especially when

Party All Day Long (and an Apology)

Bill took Isabella and Evangeline for the morning so I got to bring
the girls' teacher gifts to school for them.

Gianna had her Christmas party this morning - it was fun to see her in her kindergarten world.  Most

Yankee Candle Time

My parents and I took the girls here today:

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I love love LOVE a Yankee Candle - add in ChristmasTime and our sweet friends, and we had a fantastic combination for a holiday outing.

Cookie Baking and Olive Garden-ing

The girls got to bake and decorate cookies with their Tito and Tita.
They LOVE going over to Evan and Sarah's!
I'm thankful they enjoy having the girls over, too.

In response to my asking if they were good, my sister said:
They were just loud and didn't listen a lot - I think because they were so excited.

Evidence:

Gifts, Christmas Specials, and The Best Children's Bible Ever

We finished making the last of the gifts for our teachers and staff
at the big girls' two schools.  Super cute, yes?

 Bill found some Christmas shows for the girls to watch after dinner and baths:

Singing, Lunch, and a Piano Recital

The girls sang at church this morning -
always adorable albeit offkey.

 After church, we had lunch with my honey's family. 
Many thanks to Mom and Dad for keeping our feverish Evy while we ate food!

The Show Will Begin in a Few Minutes...

...that phrase is my FAVORITE when all the kids get together.

All the girls (and the cousins) were super excited because NeNe and PaPa came to visit for the weekend.  Tonight we went over to Uncle Brian and Aunt Jen's house for dinner with everyone
(our family, Bill's sister's family, NeNe and PaPa, Lolo and Lola, and Keith).

If only you could be a fly on a wall during our after-dinner entertainment:

Date Night

We love date night!

Thanks to the girls' PaPa and NeNe

and our awesome Abbey Lamb

(Gianna calls her Abbey Lamb - not Abbey, not Abigail - Abbey Lamb),

Bill and I got to spend some alone time talking and getting fat at this spectacular place:

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After we got home and put the girls in bed, we discovered that this was on

Santa's Wonderland

Tonight we took the girls to Santa's Wonderland at Bass Pro.

This was the closest we got the four to take a picture with the big guy in red, 

 

but we did get this one of Espy, Gianna, Evangeline and Santa:

Surgery Highly Doubtful...

...my favorite words of the day!

I'm so excited that this girl

 had a fantastic eye doctor's appointment this morning.  Thanks to those of you who were praying for us.  Her chances of having the same surgery that Espy had when she was five years old are getting

A Night with Addie Louise

Addie came over tonight, and it was great fun.

After dinner and lots of playing, reading, coloring, etc. -
all the girls finished up a movie we started the night before:

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They LOVE Addie (even though they kept calling her Regan),

Advent and a Movie

I finally finished one of our many advent calendars tonight -

better late than never!

I completely stole this fantastic idea from the girls at eighteen25:

Party Party

Went to a Christmas party tonight -
Lovely girls.
Great food.
Always a good time.

Highlight of my weekend:

This girl making such a smooth basket - her first ever of her first season.

Cookie Swapping

 I went to a cookie swap with Abbey tonight,
and it was amazing!

I got to bring home a sampling of this deliciousness:
cowboy cookies

Sickness, Baking, and a Movie

We were supposed to go to Christmas Town tonight,

but I decided to be all weird and flu-like earlier this afternoon and had to reschedule.

Our sweet friends decided to wait for us to go another time (love you guys!)

so we're excited about our eventual trip to Busch Gardens.

Instead, I tried to rest while mom came over for a few hours.

I started feeling somewhat normal and got to bake these beauties:

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to. die. for.

Let's Go See Some Lights

Tonight we took the girls to a house that was decorated like nobody's business.
It was crazy, and they loved it!

My favorite part was watching their eyes light up as they found one thing after another

Checking It Twice

We've narrowed down what we'd like to get
for our girls, our friends, and the rest of our family.
It's not much, and I'm in love with that.
We're scaling the gift madness down before we get ahead of ourselves
and become too focused on the the what instead of the Why of this season.

Our most favorite thing to help out in this:

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Oh,  
amazon.com!
We love you - we really, really do.

No lines.