Christmas.

This Christmas has been incredible. Monday before Christmas my dad landed himself in the hospital. Based on what the doctor told him, he would not be home in time for Christmas. It was a time of real introspection for me—about the meaning of Christmas, and of family, life…you name it. All of the sudden Christmas took on a new meaning to me, and for the first time in my life (late coming I know, and I’m sorry for that but glad that it did finally come) I realized that the greatest gift in my mortal life is the family I have been given. That for the first time I really did not want anything else than to be able to be with my family. For those of you in my family that are far away, you have been in my thoughts and my heart through this celebration of Christmas.

Through the grace of blessings, Dad was able to come home on Christmas Eve, though he still has a road ahead of him to reach full recovery. So those of the family that were able to be here celebrated together, and honored those who were unable to be here. Our biggest family tradition is to be non-traditional. Now I don’t mean without tradition, because we have plenty of traditions. They just aren’t what most people would think of as the typical traditions. One of those for Christmas is that we have our family celebration on Christmas Eve. So Dad coming home on Christmas Eve was the greatest gift at the perfect time.
Another of our traditions is to eat, but not a typical ham or turkey Christmas meal. We’ve tried different things over the years, and this year we decided to do a pizza bar. We made pizza dough and had individual pie pans so everyone could top their own pizzas, and then we baked and ate them. They were so yummy and fun!

The yeast in the pizza dough was crazy active, so we ended up with a bunch of leftover dough. We decided to make it into dessert breadsticks. Kind of like a cinnamon roll, we topped them with a cinnamon and sugar mix and baked them, and then we topped them with a cream cheese icing. They were SO GOOD!
This one was mammoth—we called it the “Yule Log.” It tried to jump overboard in the oven:
For the first time in my whole entire life, we had a white Christmas here in Texas!
As siblings, we always draw names to determine who we will exchange gifts with. Michael drew me, and gave me a digital picture frame with a flash drive full of awesome pictures!!! It made me so happy! Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness, Michael. The pictures you chose are so perfect, and mean so much! You couldn't have chosen a more perfect gift for me!

I drew Danielle, and decided to try my hand at these “Mommy & Me” aprons. Danielle and Maddy are such cute twins! And look how cute Danielle is with her adorable little pregnant belly!
Maddy was so much fun, helping with the cinnamon sticks, opening presents, and just being a love. I am so grateful for my family—ALL of you. For the depth and meaning you each add to my life. Thank you for your support and for the fun that you all are! I love you all, and I hope this next year is the year of rockingness for everyone!