Christmas Eve. . .

I'm sure Murphy's Law comes into play somewhere here because I was feeling very prepared for Christmas when we noticed a hard lump in Emma's ear late Tuesday evening. We took her to the vet first thing on Wednesday where they immediately scheduled her for emergency surgery. She had a hemotoma that had to be lanced and cleaned to prevent a more serious infection. It was a full surgery with an overnight stay so it wasn't cheap. AND it couldn't have come at a worse time! Well, I suppose there is always a worse time but this was far from good timing. Rob picked her up on Christmas Eve day with instructions to keep her quiet and don't let her shake her head. Yeah, right. She has to wear the "cone of shame" for 8-10 days while her ear heals up. Instead of changing our Christmas plans, we just took her along. . .



Anyway. . . . believe it or not, I still had ONE more thing to get on Christmas Eve so Gloria and I ran to Walmart where what to our wondering eyes should appear?? Santa on a Harley. Of course we had to stop and take a picture!



We still made it out to my parent's house by 4:00 Thursday evening where we had a chance to relax and enjoy some good company. . .

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. . .

It was so nice being with family but we left fairly early due to Emma's misery. At home I puttered around the house putting finishing touches on everything while I pondered the meaning of Christmas. . .

Ready?

It's funny how often people say, "So, are you ready for Christmas?"


What, exactly, does that mean??

Well, we've had our Christmas parties. . .

The Christmas play at church went off without a hitch. . .

My house is clean and all of my favorite decorations are out. . .

The tree is up. . .

. . . the presents are wrapped. . .



Pictures from Christmas' past grace the walls. . .








All of the Nativity Scenes are out. . .













Gloria even had a short visit with Santa . . .



So, in traditional terms, yes, I guess I'm ready for Christmas. But I'd like to think that I would be ready without all of those things considering I believe this is what it's really about:


Merry Christmas. . .

The Christmas Play. . .

This last week flew by and I had so much to say and no time to say it! The Christmas play on Sunday was beautiful! Everyone did a great job. Unfortunately, my video didn't turn out so well. I uploaded it to YouTube but the first two parts of the five part play are pretty much inaudible. I was very sad because I think the play had a great message. Melanie Folwell wrote it using some brain storming ideas from the youth group and it was very clear that the true meaning of Christmas can become very unclear when mixed in with all of the other images and ideas that swirl around us this time of year. I'm working on another post where I'll post the video that DID turn out and gives the message loud and clear. In the meantime, here are some sweet pictures from Sunday: