Christmas vacation 2013

Ryan here

Christmas 2013 was a nice relaxing one.  We went nowhere and spent two weeks of vacation with no traveling.  It started off busy though, with a 24 mile run out to mom's house.  The run was good, but really hot, reminiscent of the marathon.

We spend our anniversary walking all around the Disney parks.  We went to two parks and two resorts.  It was nice to explore Disney with Rodney and we had a good time eating and laughing.

Christmas eve was special, we went to our church, to Taco Bus and then to St. Andrew's with Rodney.  It was a long night, but nice to remember Christ's birth in a unique way.

Christmas day was spent with no activities. We read the Bible story, relaxed, played games and had Chinese food for dinner.

Friday, I accidentally bumped into my neighbor's car with my own.  I was very touched by his forgiveness of the matter, his nonchalance at what had happened was a relief that reminded me of how powerful forgiveness is.

Sunday of course was Jenny's birthday!  We had a great time celebrating and going to Applebee's.  Now that Jenny age is the last LOST number...she seems a little bit cooler.

The following Monday came the frustrating chore of putting in a new faucet.  It was hard work, and required great patience, but Carly was a great help in answering some "top of the sink" questions.

I played through three games, Resistance 2, Bulletstorm, and Modern Warfare 2.  These were games I didn't want to 'complete', just finish.  It helped me cut down on my library of games a little bit.
We also played Minecraft on the playstation.  The kids had played it a lot before, but now it was accessible to me and fun to play.

On Tuesday, Ben and I dived in to the Walking Dead.  We watched 8 episodes and that tired me out.  Guess I'm an old man when it comes to continuous TV watching.   Ben, however, picked it right up and wanted to watch it on his tablet.   We've also been watching LOST, and we almost finished it.

New Year's eve was fun.  The girl's watched Once Upon a Time and I played games, but came out in time to watch the turning to 2014.  Their episode finished right at 11:59 and 34 seconds.  We switched off the video just in time.

Wednesday night the kids went to mom and dad's and Jenny and I had a nice night at the Texas Roadhouse Grill.  That was pretty good food.

Saturday I had a pretty good run in anticipation of the marathon. That will be next weekend.  Looking forward to it.

New Years Eve

Last day of the year... I talked Rochel into a trip to Hobby Lobby.  We brought Carly along for Kid Control.  She's pretty good with those 2!  Keeps them in line.  We had a lot of fun shopping and got some great deals... including the $3 Disco Ball.  Because McGregor's just need a Disco Ball.  

After Hoppy Loppy, Carly and I went to Chick Fil-A for lunch.  I guess I should have mentioned that the boys requested we leave the house for the day since they'd be watching a Walking Dead Marathon. Hence our Girls Shopping Trip.  We did a little shopping at Joann's and Ross, too.  We liked this trade off.  I spent the afternoon making this bag for Debbie:

Pretty easy, although, I did have to sacrifice my "Go, Fight, Win" tshirt to make it.  We are celebrating our birthday's next week, so I needed a present for her.  The Hobby Lobby Material Girl was kind enough to lay her hands on the fabric quickly... and it's perfect for this project!  I was pretty happy it turned out so cute (and easy) because we have LOTS of tshirts that can now be made into something else.  I'm all about recycling fabric...

The evening was spent watching our favorite shows with the kids (girls: Once Upon a Time, boys: Lost or Walking Dead) then we rang in the New Year shouting at the TV for the Ball to Drop.  I am not certain that it did.  But, for once in about a decade, I was still awake to see it.  

It's My Birthday!

...and I don't mind getting older a bit!  I had a really great day... We've gotten pretty good at relaxing this past week, so that continued.  I sang on Worship Team at church (the band was so sweet to sing to me during rehearsal... not often that song gets such a rendition!) then we went to Applebee's for lunch.  You can't go wrong with Oriental Chicken Salad! Yum.  Then we ran a couple of errands before heading home.  Had a great nap!  Then we had a FaceTime chat with my whole family, visiting Tracy and Dean in Texas.  That was very fun.  Rochel and fam came over for a quick visit... then we got Dairy Queen:)  Perfect Day.  Oh, and a couple of videos from my nieces and nephews:

Ryan gave me tickets to see Evita in March, so the celebration will continue then!

Complete Spectacle

One of our favorite Traditions of the Season is visiting the Spectacle of Lights at Hollywood Studios.  They are always the same, but you know how we love our Traditions!  We went over late Saturday night and enjoyed our evening.  The park itself didn't seem very crowded, but the lines for the rides were pretty long.  So mostly we just visited some shops and The Lights.

Disney sure knows how to decorate for Christmas!

A little pin trading at the Aerosmith Rockin' Roller Coaster shop.

It was pretty relaxing back where the lights are.  I think every time we go, I'm reminded of previous years and experiences seeing these lights, perhaps that's why we have so many traditions.  They remind us of the past.  We are blessed.  Two years ago, the Warren's went with us, right after Debbie was diagnosed with breast cancer, and shortly after her first chemo treatment.  Last year, my parents went with us... the first time we took the kids and how excited they were to find out they got Disney passes for Christmas.  Just fun memories.

It's so pretty and relaxing watching the lights dance to the music.

Here's hoping our kids want Disney Passes for the rest of their lives because we LOVE this tradition!

The Day After

Day After Christmas.  Carly had big plans... for using up her Bath and Body Works gift cards!  She was pretty excited about the semi-annual sale... she carefully planned out her spending, coupons considered.  She made out pretty well.  Who am I kidding?  We both did.

After our brief shopping trip, we returned home for a Continuation of Quiet Christmas.  I think we are so busy all the time, it's been really great to just have some quiet down time.  Not that we didn't have any fun... Carly gave Ryan ballet lessons while they were supposed to be doing the dishes.  Pretty funny.

And a quick photo of her ridiculous stash.  At least I hide all mine in a drawer:)

Nothing for Christmas

This is how we spent Christmas Day: Doing Nothing.  It was fantastic!  Elfy loved it!  Warm People laying around on the couches under fuzzy blankets.  She was especially tired and cold having spent the night outside.  We didn't have anywhere we needed to be, so we decided we'd have a nice quiet day at home.  It was awesome!

I made a big-for-us breakfast of casserole-in-the-crock-pot and monkey bread.  The children devoured it.  Then we watched TV and the kids played video games.  We read books... it was great!  In the evening, we ordered Chinese Food like my friend Arlene (she's Jewish) told me she does every year.  We watched the Radio City Music Hall's Rockettes Christmas Spectacular (pretty excellent Netflix find).  It was nice to spend a day not going anywhere and not feeling pressured to get stuff done.  We enjoyed our kids and each other and maybe even the cats.  Maybe.

Christmas Eve 2013

I love Christmas Eve.  When I was little, it was my most favorite day.  I remember wanting to take a nap in the afternoon so the evening would hurry up and get here.  We usually went to church for a candlelight service, then had yummy snacks at home and opened our stockings.  We sometimes got to open our "big Christmas present".  Just really fun memories.

Our church, Tampa Covenant, had their service at 7pm... We went early so I could rehearse with the worship team.  I really love singing on the worship team.  Although, I was missing Rochel this night!  Always more fun with her.  The service was really nice, just alot of scripture reading and songs, all in the dark, candle light.  Pretty.  Quiet.  Moving.  I love the art work members of our church have made for the worship space... I love our version of stained glass:

And this painting, recently created by Linda Reynolds.  Just beautiful.  I love that everything is purposeful.

After our service, we met up with Rodney and Don at The Taco Bus for dinner.  Last year, we discovered that it was open until 10pm and is a block away from the church (Sacred Heart) where we were going to be attending Midnight Mass.  Last year was our first time giving this service a try.  And we loved it.  All of us.  I just love that we can go to a different denomination church and appreciate how they worship differently than us.  Same God.  Same Savior.  This year, we went to St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, directly behind Sacred Heart.  Rodney's been attending here and has joined the choir and he was singing, so our choice was made.  

It was a really wonderful service.  Everything about it.  (Except perhaps the live Christmas Trees and incense... my allergies did not approve).  The choir is INSANELY talented.  There are only about 24 of them, and each piece they sang (mostly a cappella) were so difficult! And they sang ALOT of songs throughout the service.  We love how the priest and choir and alter people march in behind the cross.  Just really beautiful symbolism of the cross going before them.  We loved the scripture reading, the liturgy, communion, and celebration.  The priest gave a really excellent homily about reasons why people would come to that service.  Then he said, "I came to be confounded!" and I thought that's exactly why I'm here, too.  Just to be amazed and in wonder of God.  Stopping to be sit quietly and be confounded.  I loved that.  The season has been chaotic, no matter how desperately we try to slow it down... and finally, among soft lights in a foreign church, it settled on me.  I want to always be surprised and amazed and overwhelmed by everything God has done for me.

Another Christmas Eve that is added to my list of my very favorite days of the year!!