Saturday, December 25, 2021

Christmas Recap

Our family celebration was important to me this year because I truly have this strong feeling that 2022 will be different with Uncle Danny starting to exhibit signs of his lung cancer. He has lasted far longer than any of us thought he would and for that we are thankful. I keep praying he will find Christ as his Savior soon. Enough of that...this will be a happy post, but

with all of that in mind I was determined to try and make our family gathering a memorable one. 

Before I go on, I feel I must remind y'all no one has a perfect life or home or any of that. If you need a reminder since I do love Christmas and eating on pretty dishes and so many other little things...just go read this post called The Perfect Christmas. I think it is worth reading and reminding that there is no such thing as perfect but Jesus Himself.

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Ok, back to this year's story. I was determined that the entire family have the dinner together in the same room. I didn't want us all scattered this year, especially this year. Jeff and I moved the dining room table over and moved the patio table in the dining room. Remember how I didn't want that patio furniture? I have been corrected so many times on how good a purchase that was. 

I pulled out an extra tablecloth and threw on a cloth napkin for a pop of color in the center, grabbed a bowl of ornaments from the foyer table, and added some candles. 

The pictures were all taken before I lit all the candles, but man I was so happy with the set up.



We did enjoy our family dinner so much. Everyone was fat and happy. I made a pie and Mother made a cake. It is something she can still do so that is good. Tucker calls her cakes "Grandma Cake." You know she loves that.


Here a few snippets of everyone.


Tucker helped everyone open their presents. Christmas with a kid that age is truly fun.






Now, I finally get to share two gifts I got for Lindsay. I am not the best gift giver but these were my ideas and I am quite proud of myself.

First up is a watercolor I got a girl on Etsy do for me of Tucker and his prayer that he said the night Palmer was born. You may remember reading about it here. I wanted to find a way to make this into a keepsake. I had a picture of Tucker praying at church. You can read about that here. I sent Nikki at JoyfulFlourish the picture and the prayer and asked her to turn it into an 11 X 14 watercolor.


I loved it and think they did too.



Then we had her a necklace made with the boys' birthstones in it. We had a diamond left from one of Nana's (Jeff's mom) rings. We took that and chose a birthstone for each of the boys. We traded in some gold from other rings where we had repurposed the diamonds like a necklace I have and Katie's ring and got this to a reasonable price and another keepsake for Lindsay. 

She sent us a picture of it the next morning.


Since, I knew I would be taking all the pictures, I had Jeff take one of me on that day as well.


All of the above happened on December 23rd. It is not the first time we have had our family gathering like that. When your kids get married you have to share them. Tyler's family came down for Christmas this year, so we celebrated early and pretended it was a travel year. Flexibility is the key and honestly as the years go on this will happen more and more. 

Christmas Eve was quiet but ticked off pretty quick with Paul Allen and Katie dropping by and then  getting Mother out for a bit. The church service was honestly one of the best ever. I mean ever. It was geared towards families and only preschooler environments were opened. Everyone else went to the services. They were heavily attended and I think all enjoyed it. A skit was done around the idea of a character with a PCI (Perfect Christmas Itinerary) notebook. It was filled with all the things we do around Christmas until Christmas is rushed and often missed. I have been there before especially when I taught school. The music was great. 

Christmas Day involved a morning on the beach, a spaghetti lunch with Mother, Paul Allen and Katie and then a boat ride. Truly the weather was amazing.

Beach....


I sadly missed on the dress. I was so hot it was almost unbearable and that was 10 in the morning. 


The boat ride...


Lindsay sent these of the boys' major presents....
Tucker got a scooter. BTW, he totally got Christmas and was adorable this morning.


Palmer got a new swing for the boat. He loved it according to Lindsay. 


You may remember the Advent calendar I stitched for them a year or so ago. It just so happened this year the church passed out the papers with pictures on it and they coincided with a children's Bible and story book. Tucker looked forward to this each night. He couldn't wait to pull the card out. I got to do it with him twice over the holidays when Lindsay and Tyler had to go to work parties. His other grandmother got to do it with him two days on their visit. 

The weather has been absolutely amazing the past few days. For those that like a cold Christmas it would not make one happy, but for me...LOVE.

I will be back next week after Lindsay and I go to the doctor with an update. Then Jeff and I are going to Auburn for a few days.
See ya next week,
Sandy



11 comments:

  1. Sandy, thank you for sharing the pictures of your family Christmas. I love the watercolor you had created of Tucker's Prayer and what a beautiful keepsake in the necklace you gave to Lindsay. What a beautiful morning you had for a beach walk. Enjoy these remaining days of 2021.

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    1. I was quite proud of myself on the gifts this year. Normally the hubby is the great gift giver, but I thought of these.
      Have a great week. We are headed to Auburn early in the morning.

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  2. I love the picture of mama feeding her descendant. How beautiful she is, and looking very content there. The baby knows he's in good hands, too. Thank you for the update on the party.

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    1. Mother is truly happiest around her grandchildren and great grandchildren and they all love her too. Tucker think she hangs the stars.
      Happy New Year.

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  3. Merry Christmas!

    Love the reflection of the football game on the window. Great photos, the necklace is a beauty.

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    1. Ahh.. yes, sports are pretty much on all the time when my boys are around. Me, I like a good Hallmark movie every now and then:)
      Happy New Year.

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  4. Looks like the perfect Christmas. You are right, celebrate BIG....Lindsay has one very sweet mama who took the time to get her such perfect gifts. I hope Lindsay gets good news at the doctor. Have fun in Auburn.

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    1. Well, Lindsay and I headed out and had just gotten out of the city limits when the doctor's office called and changed the appointment to Wednesday. Apparently the doctor is stuck in an airport with the Covid delays. I told Lindsay everything will be fine and there is a purpose we don't see. I am going on to Auburn and I think Tyler is going to go with her now. I will keep you posted.

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  5. Oh wow, such meaningful gifts! I love that. I need to take some lessons in gift giving. My kids and family did better than I did on giving great gifts this year. I just didn't get into the "spirit" of gifts until too late this year. Maybe next year I will start earlier. Your pictures are wonderful of your family gathering and your table setting and everything was so lovely. I am so happy you were able to all be together, no matter WHAT day it was! Yes, we families have to cooperate and make it work so everyone can have a great Christmas! And yes, the weather was perfect this year! Warm, but not too warm. No humidity...that's the best part! Love seeing the picture of you on the beach. You look happy and refreshed! No matter about being "overdressed", but I know what you mean. It's hard to know how to dress these days. It starts out cool, but yes, by 10 a.m. it is warm. But I am not complaining. We are blessed to live in Florida, especially in winter! Have a blessed and wonderful week. Praying for Lindsay's appt., etc.

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  6. Looks like you had a wonderful Christmas... My favorite photo is of your mom with little Parker--pure bliss in that sweet face of hers ♥ And I so love the watercolor of Tucker saying his little prayer--what an amazing gift. I know Lindsay will treasure it and Tucker can hand it down to his own son or daughter some day.

    That must be so fun when the little ones reach the age where they "get" Christmas. My poor little guy was just a bit confused by all the hub-bub of opening gifts :)

    Your weather looks mighty tempting right now... We have had way too much rain and grey this winter already. I so wish we would get snow, but nothing is in our forecast--such a strange "winter!"

    Enjoy your January, Sandy ♥

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I am so glad you stopped by my little blog. Drop in again anytime.
Sincerely,
Sandy