With no kids in the house we were not up early here at the folks house. Everyone started congregating in the living room around 9:30 or so. By everyone I mean the folks, Mike and Liana, Amy and myself. It was a mellow morning to be sure. Mike and Amy played Santa and passed the gifts around then we took turns opening them. This is how we have done it for as long as I can remember. Anyhow, it went fine and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. It was a good morning.
I called and talked to Natty and they had a great morning and enjoyed getting up early, 5:30, and opening presents. Natty got her American Girl doll, Lego Harry Potter for the Wii and a few other things, Jack got his Stinky Garbage truck, a remote control car and more, Andy got some dress up outfits including Woody, Buzz, and Iron Man complete with the helmet, the chest piece and the hand stabilizer thing. He was really excited about it. I went and picked them up around 1:45 and brought them back to the folks for more presents and to visit with everyone. They got loaded up with fun gifts from Mike and Liana and Grandma and Grandpa. They also got cool new snow sleds from me and were probably most excited by little voice recorders that you could manipulate the play back speed. It was fun to watch them enjoy the gifts and their aunts and uncles as well as Grandma and Grandpa. They played for a while and then I took them home around 4. I will upload some pictures when I get back to using my computer next week. I got some cute ones of Iron Man Andy, Jack playing trains and domino's, Natty playing with Uncle Bubba and hanging out. I will post some later.
So I got a surprise gift from everyone this morning. They went and found me a TV. It is a pretty good size, I would guess a 36" which is huge compared to the 19" that we are currently using. When I moved from Pebble Beach to Lowry in Lakeland I gave my 27" TV away to the Salsbury's. They were very grateful for it as theirs had died and this was a very nice TV. When I moved from Florida to Cedar I gave my 32" to the Jackson's who had a temporary TV that they were borrowing and it was probably 19" or less. I had the big screen and just didn't need all these TV's so I felt good giving them away. Funny enough that big screen died. We went without a TV for a while and the kids would watch movies on Amy's or they would gather round the little portable DVD player and watch Scooby Doo or How to Train Your Dragon or whatever. It was not a big priority for us so I didn't really miss it. This kids on the other hand seemed to miss the video games and the movies. On Black Friday we got the 19" from Amy and that has been great, the kids have sure enjoyed it as they had been without their Wii for a while. Anyhow, I was touched that everyone pitched in and found this TV for us. I remember giving both of those old TV's away and how happy both the Salsburys and the Jacksons were to receive them. It made me happy to do it. I find it funny that things have gone full circle and that we are excited to receive this TV while others are feeling great for giving it. Well, much thanks Dad, Mom, Mike, Liana, Dave, Dani and Amy. Not only am I grateful for the TV but for all the kind gifts you gave to Natty, Jack and Andy as well as to me. Thanks also to Jim and Clo, Marien, Clayton and Kathryn for their thoughtful gifts and kindness and to all of our family and friends.
I had Dave and Dani this year and made them a shelf. I did not finish it because I wanted to give them a color of their choosing. That may be a bit of a challenge to match the color of their other furniture but we are going to give it a shot. Also gave a shelf to the folks and they too get to pick out their color. They seemed excited to receive them and that is good.
We had a family meal at Jay and Sara's house. It was good. Appreciate being with family when I was away from mine. We had fun shooting rubber band guns, choosing Would You Rather's, listening to Jaykob sing crazy renditions of Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer and other silly things. After dinner we came back to the folks and played a Root Beer game. We had 8 different types of Root Beers, well 7 and one bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper. Anyway, everybody got a little cup of each flavor and picked out the one they thought was best. In the end there was no clear winner. Diet Big K was Liana's pick, A & W was Amy's and possibly mom's, Mike managed to pick out the Wal-Mart brand for his while dad selected Barqs I believe. I actually selected Diet Big K on my first go round but then followed a different testing method that Mike was using and came up with Diet IBC. It was a fun activity. You don't know which is which when you are tasting them though I tried to determine the brand of each. I actually did pretty good only mixing up two, Diet Big K and the Wal-Mart brand. The other 6 I nailed. It was fun.
I read Luke 2 for everyone but did not do it from the King James version. No, I used the translation of the bible into Hawaiian Pigeon language. It is a legitimate translation that was completed by 26 Native Hawaiians from the original Greek. Having grown up in Hawaii I find "Da Jesus Book" (the New Testament) a very interesting read. At first I just thought it was a joke but they seriously went about the work of translating into Pigeon so that a majority of the Hawaiians would more easily understand the bible. The way most things translated brings a smile to my face. Here is a quick example. The Acts of the Apostles translates to Jesus Guys, What Dey Wen Do. Anyhow, we had fun with this reading.
I am grateful for Christmas when we celebrate the birth of the Savior. I am grateful for the gift of His life and for all that is made possible through Him. I hope that I can remember him always and that I can do my best to follow His teachings not just at Christmas but at all times and in all places.
I love the Lord and am grateful for His hand in my life. I am grateful for friends and family that are so kind and helpful. I am grateful for my children and that we were able to spend some time together today. I have been blessed with wonderful children and i love them very much.
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