The glow of my tree...

It's the day after Christmas. I've just had a whirlwind week and weekend, and now here I sit in my front room, back at my own house, alone and quiet. My front room is lit with the glow of my Christmas tree. I left my dog at my mom and dad's house becuase I'm leaving for MN this weekend. The only sound is the hum of my heater. I have a glass of wine and I am relaxed.

There's so much I could write about. I have learned and grown so much in the past four days. There are two things that I feel like writing about but honestly time and words will probably fail to accurately share what it is I want to share.

The first thing is that I have the most amazing family. I love them more than I can express. I've always known how blessed I am to have amazing parents, and a wonderful relationship with my brother (and sister in law too). This weekend I got to spend quite a bit of time with my grandparents. If you know me at all you know how much I love my grandparents. I was always close to my three grandparents. Whenever there are family things I miss my Grandma Adams. Since she passed away there are still times that I wish I could call her on the phone because I know she understood me more than just about anyone I could think of. I think there were so many things about us that were similar...Grandma just knew me. I missed her at the candlelight service on Christmas Eve. I miss hearing her sing the harmony to Silent Night...I tried to fill in for her this year, but somehow it just wasn't as beautiful. I realized again this weekend how proud I am to say that I am a lot like my Grandma Adams. This weekend did give me the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time with my Grandma and Grandpa Ehrhard. My grandma is in the hospital and I got to spend a lot of time sitting at the end of her bed, talking about nothing imporant but just being together. (Mom, dad, grandma and grandpa...I know you'll read this....so don't roll your eyes yet. I just want to share with my friends how wonderful you all are) I guess all I really want to say about it is this...if anyone wants to know what true, real love and devotion look like, spend a minute with my grandparents. Your heart will be full...like mine still is.

Then there were the times this weekend when I got to hang out with my parents. They are still the people whose opinion matters most to me...and even though my father might tell you differently at times, I respect them more than anything. As I get older not only do I look to them for guidance and "parental" type things, but I also look to them for friendship. We really do have a good time together. So if you want another look at true love and see how playful it can be, try spending an afternoon with my parents. It's sure to be a good time! Especially if my dad reads you the story about Armodillo Ray.

And the second thing is this...I am convinced once again that God still speaks to his children today. I spent a lot of time in church this weekend. Each time I walked into the sanctuary with something hanging on my heart, and each time the scripture readings and sermons could have been written and spoken just for me. God spoke to my heart and reminded me of what Christmas really means. This year in my family the parties looked different, there weren't rooms and rooms full of presents, and our "holiday" was about as disjointed as it could be...but I think this Holiday has been one of the best ever because I was once again given the most precious gift...the gift of God with us.

p.s...if anyone tried to call this weekend, I didn't answer because my phone broke when I was in STL....it's fixed now...and should be working again.

p.p.s...I am going to MN this weekend and I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE ALL MY MN FRIENDS!!!!!! : ) And Beautiful Godson Noah. YAY!

Scary...

I saw the most frightening commercial last night. I was sitting in front of the tele, wasting time watching Dirty Dancing...not the movie, but the new reality show with Chris Judd...when I should have been wrapping present (which I haven't started) or cleaning up the kitchen after our Christmas Cheer party (which I'm partially started).

It was a commercial break and it showed a mom and dad sleeping soundly and the children sleeping in their rooms when all the sudden some women starts singing "Oh Christmas Tree." Eventually all the family members wake from their slumber and tiptoe down the hallway. As they near the front room you can see the glow of the Christmas tree and as the camera pans around the corner, Celene Dion is sprawled on the floor under the tree singing.

The narrator then says something to the effect of, "wouldn't it be great if every one could have Celene Dion under their Christmas tree on Christmas morning"

I didn't know if I should laugh or cry... If Celene Dion was on my floor on Christmas morning, I'd be a little worried. I think it was trying to sell her perfume.

Too Good to Be True!

I have a bunch of stuff I want to update everyone on...And I have lots of pictures from my new digital camera that I'd like to share...but in the interest of my time, I wanted to tell you all about my spectacular morning so far.

I overslept a little bit this morning and came running into work in a "haven't had my coffee yet" type of haze. A lady from church that I adore told me there was a package for me in front of my office door. Yay! My first Christmas present. So I opened my gift to see what it was and I tell you no lie...it was a Chia Pet. I have to say that this is quite possibly the best "church" gift anyone has ever given me. Not only is is a chia pet, but it is an elephant chia pet with a free Chia Alarm clock that rings the tune of "ch ch ch chia." Absolutely too good to be true!