The whirlwind of the holidays

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind, but in a good way! Here are some of the highlights from Christmas and New Year's:

Christmas Eve Eve: My niece and nephew (Josh and Kayle) came over and spent the night. We ate alot, dipped candy canes into chocolate to make the coolest hot chocolate "stirrers", and then fired up my new hot chocolate machine that made the best hot chocolate in the world. Then we loaded everyone up, grabbed the neighbor kid Chris and went to the Christmas service at church. The service was GREAT and it was an awesome way to start our Christmas.

Christmas Eve morning: All of Trent's family came over and we had brunch, opened presents and hung out. Cody loves to cook and he especially loves his Uncle Jeff's biscuits and gravy, so it really made his day to have Uncle Jeff teach him how to make it. He did a great job and it tasted better than any restaurant!

Christmas Eve: Relaxing family time in the afternoon and then off to two parties. The first one was at our neighbor's, The Warners, and it's always a lot of fun. Then we were off to the Mann's for a really nice, laid back get together of friends. We ate a lot and laughed a lot and it was great!

Christmas Day: Cody, Trent and I slept in, opened presents, had an awesome breakfast that Cody cooked for us (he made his Grandma's famous brunch casserole). We had some really good family time and everyone loved the presents they got. We were all too spoiled! Then in the afternoon my family came over for dinner at our house, more presents (did I mention that we're spoiled), and some more great family time. The evening ended with our annual "Christmas Bingo" game and there were lots of laughs at the gag gifts that people won.

New Year's: On Thursday we took off to escape to the mountains to a gorgeous log cabin that we rented in Pigeon Forge, TN. We've been there once before and it is the best! Full kitchen, fireplace, big screen, pool table, hot tub out on the deck, master suite with it's own deck - it is aweesome. Our goal for those 5 days were total rest and relaxation, which we did very well. We didn't hardly leave the cabin - I brought enough food to feed an army and we ate most of our meals there at the cabin. We did venture out one day to go into Gatlinburg - we went to the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, ate at Hard Rock Cafe', and went to the China Star knife shop, which was really scary for Mom, but the boys wanted to go. Going on a mini family vacation was a great way to start off the New Year!

Saturday, GCC Food Drop: What an amazing way to close out the holiday season. We gathered with a couple thousand other people from GCC to distribute 6 semi-loads of food all over the Michiana area! It was incredible working right next to one of my favorite students Casie Kyle, my niece Kayle, my nephew Josh, my husband and son, and my friends Debbie, Chloe and Corey. To me, this is what Christmas is all about and that is serving others. Click onthe link to watch a really cool video my friend Corey made of the food drop. http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=_ENgFZqBRNk

All in all it was one of our best Christmas and New Year's ever - not because of any gift that we got, but because every year we simplify Christmas more and more and get to the heart of what Christmas is really all about, and that is loving and celebrating Jesus and loving others.