A Merry Christmas recap

Henry and I spent Christmas at my parents house in San Antonio this year.  Things were a little different this year for a couple reasons. For one, my parents moved this year into their new house.  It was weird not celebrating Christmas in the house I grew up in, but not as weird as I thought it would be.  Home really is where the heart is.  Secondly, we are expecting our first child.  In many ways it has made this Christmas more special and meaningful than the past 3 that we've celebrated together as a married couple.  As I have been reading through the Christmas story this month, being pregnant has given me a new perspective through which to see Christ's coming to earth. 

So that I'll remember what we did, here is a breakdown of our Christmas weekend.
Thursday (12/23) we arrived in San Antonio around 5:00.  My feet were so swollen by the time we got there I guess from having been on my feet all morning getting ready to leave and then sitting for 3 straight hours in the car.  That evening my dad realized he did not plan for thawing time for the 22 lb. turkey he was planning to cook, so Henry and I and my cousins went to HEB and bought a precooked turkey and other necessary items like ice cream and ingredients for queso dip. :)

Friday (12/24) I woke up at 4:00 AM and couldn't fall back asleep, so I decided to get up.  Read for a while and had some sweet time with the Lord.  It was the best way to kick off the day.  Henry woke up around 6:00 and we wrote Christmas notes to our family together.  Let me just say here that my husband is so good at writing sincere notes.  It was such a blessing to me for us to do that together.  We spent the day with my mom's side of the family eating good food, playing games, opening gifts and having an overall great time together.  I think dad was pretty disappointed about not getting to cook and eat his big bird that he had bought and prepared, but the precooked HEB turkey tasted great.  Lex & Christy and the kids left around 4:30 and the rest of us napped until it was time to go to church.  This was the first year that Grandma spent Christmas Eve with us.  I sat next to her during the Christmas Eve service and she quietly cried through most of the service.  This is the first Christmas since Paw Paw passed away (in March) and I can only imagine how difficult it was for her.  After the service we went home and opened gifts just the six of us and I am really glad Grandma got to be there with us. I think it was special for her too.

Saturday (12/25), Christmas Day, we slept in, hung out in our pajamas until about noon and watched It's a Wonderful Life, which up until this year was never really one of my favorite Christmas movies, but has now moved up on my list.  Saturday afternoon our dear friends, the Stringers, came over.  We played 4 rowdy rounds of Empire, ate leftovers and chatted. It was a perfect way to spend Christmas day. 

Sunday we drove home.  I always get a little sad when we leave my parents house.  I just love spending time with my family.  It was weird to think that this weekend will most likely be the last time I am "home" before the baby comes.  Life happens so fast.  Henry and I will have our Christmas together tonight.  We decided yesterday that we are just going to continue to celebrate Christmas all week.  Christmas only comes but once a year so why not milk it for all it's worth. 

Will post pictures soon. I promise not all my posts will be this long. :)