Monday, December 26, 2005

My Christmas Gifts


What a wonderful Christmas again this year. I'm sad that it's over, but it wouldn't be as special if this season lasted all year long. I sure did miss my Dad, but know that he was spending Christmas with Jesus this year. There is a lot of comfort in that thought.

Some of the many gifts I received this Christmas:

1. Christmas morning church service with my husband, son, mom, and mother-in-law.
2. ITunes gift cards
3. Beautiful weather (76 degrees and blue skies)
4. a bottle of perfume
5. Seeing Noah's face light up when he saw that Santa had eaten the cookies he'd left for him :)
6. a Chocolate Fondue Fountain!
7. none of my family was sick today
8. having Noah stop playing with his toys this morning to walk over and hand me my stocking
9. DVD - The Worst of American Idol, Seasons 1-4 (haha!)
10. yummy food on Christmas Eve at my mom's house
11. past memories of my Dad dressed as Santa Claus for all of the grandkids (and wearing his dark dress socks instead of those uncomfortable Santa boots! haha)
12. Being the one to hold my Mom in church this morning as she wept during "Silent Night." (that was the song that was playing when my Dad proposed to her) :(
13. Seeing all of the grandkids dressed in matching Christmas PJs on Christmas Eve
14. Giving presents that everyone loved
15. Nigella Lawson kitchen ware (so beautiful!)
16. Handing out care packages to our city's homeless on Friday night with our son
17. Looking out our window and seeing so many homes on our street covered in Christmas lights
18. A beautiful sterling silver bangle bracelet with Hebrews 13:5 engraved on it - "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
19. Going to see dh's grandmother today and seeing her wear the new red floppy hat we gave her.
20. A full day at the SPA - gift from David!
21. Cooking Christmas dinner for my family - Brown sugar spiral sliced ham, Spinach Gratin, mashed sweet potatoes with shallots, yeast rolls, iced tea, chocolate cream pie, and key lime pie.
22. The reminder that the gift of Jesus is the most important and lasts the longest. :)

We are so incredibly blessed. I hope your Christmas was joyful and full of love and family!
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE GIFT THIS YEAR??
- Jennifer

"The birth of Jesus -- Savior, Messiah, Lord -- translates all that is shabby, despairing, and dying into newness, joy, and life. It is a language that even we can hear. A four-year old boy asked, "What's all the fuss about a baby when there's more to the story?" He was right. If we only focus on the birth of Jesus as a sweet story we like remembering, then we miss out on what can happen for us tonight. The God who comes to be with us can take the shabby, hurting, dirty, abandoned, humiliating parts of ourselves and will make them and us new." -Jennie C. Olbrych

19 comments:

daphne said...

What a wonderful Christmas you had...truly blessed! I too was missing my dad, but he was smiling down on me from heaven!

corinne5 said...

sounds like you had yourselve a wonderful x-mas. I believe that your father was their with you to celebrate in spirit.

corinne5xxx

Anonymous said...

what an absolutely beautiful entry and what wonderful memories.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you had a fabulously full Christmas!

Jennifer S. said...

Sounds wonderful!!!

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful gift list, Jennifer! I love that you've mixed in the serious gifts with the "serious" gifts! Excellent! Glad that you had such a wonderful day! Love the quote too!

Sophia

Jana said...

So happy to hear you had such a wonderful Christmas this year, Jennifer! My fave gift is a digi Rebel that is now on order just for me, can't wait to get my hands on it!!!

Anonymous said...

This made me cry...

12. Being the one to hold my Mom in church this morning as she wept during "Silent Night." (that was the song that was playing when my Dad proposed to her) :(

Carrie Anne said...

Glad you had a good Christmas. And a fondue fountain?...I'll be right over! :)

Anonymous said...

WOWZA!! You got it good.

Smiles,
Wendy

Anonymous said...

So sorry to hear about your father.

Sounds like you got a lot of great gifts.

Anonymous said...

Wow Jennifer, sounds like you had a great Christmas. I especially liked #6 (we went to a Christmas party that had one of these and the end results were delicious!) and #16 (I wanted to do something like that this year, but time and sick kids got the better of me).

Anonymous said...

sounds like a wonderful Christmas with so many special gifts - each with their own significance that goes right to the heart!

my favorite gift of all this year was spending time with all of my family

Kim said...

Oooh Jennifer. Let me know how the chocolate fondue fountain is! I have been eyeing one of those. Sounds like you had a wonderful Christmas! Happy New Year!

... said...

Jennifer, so happy that yall had a wonderful Christmas. What a beautiful quote. I will talk to you soon...Lisa

Anonymous said...

My favorite gift by FAR was hearing Kaden wake up and see what Santa brought. He RAN into our room and whispered "MAMA! MAMA! DADDY! Santa Claus came!" Nothing better than that. It was so much fun! I wish we had the same gift of not having anyone sick. I came down with strep Christmas night. But definitely a blessing that it didn't come until that night. SO glad you had a wonderful CHristmas!!!!

TracieClaiborne said...

Love that quote!!! I'm glad you had a great Christmas. I also miss my Dad at Christmas even though he's been gone 13 years now. (I think that's how many.)

You're a blessing!

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed reading your blog... sounds like you had a wonderful Christmas.

Gwyn Calvetti said...

What a wonderful list of gifts, especially the intangible ones that are true memories. Merry Christmas to you.