I'll be home for Christmas.

Our Christmas this year reminded me of the story called "The best/worst Christmas Pagent ever". It's where these unruly kids decide they want to be in the annual church Christmas Pageant. Everyone just knows they are gonna ruin the play and it's gonna be a disaster. However, it turns out awesome and ends up being the best Christmas pageant they ever had. 

Well that's exactly how our Christmas turned out. I had the hardest time getting in the "Christmas spirit" so to speak. It's has been a rough year financially due to the passing of my mother-n-law this past spring. We depleted our savings during her passing and just lived from paycheck to paycheck ever since. The Lord has always provided and we never went without. The bills have always been paid. We just didn't have a whole lot extra. With that being said, Christmas time was going to be tough this year. Sometimes I would get anxious and start to worry about my kids not having a good Christmas, but then I could feel such a peace come over me at other times. I can't say I didn't fret and worry because I did, but The Lord really helped me trust in Him. 

About a month before Christmas Maynard came upon a good investment deal. It was too good to pass up and he could possibly make an awesome profit. We had a few possible buyers, but nothing had sold yet. 3 weeks before Christmas we had our buyer. Problem was he asked for 2 weeks to get the money, but he definetly was going to buy the equipment. We were a little nervous, but didn't have any other options so we thought we would wait it out. 

1 week passed and I tried to avoid the "Have you got your Christmas shopping done yet" questions.  I hadn't bought the first thing yet. 

2 weeks had finally passed. Now we needed to collect our money and start shopping. 

The problem was our buyer hadn't contacted us or returned phone calls.  

So this was it. 6 days before Christmas and we didn't get that Christmas money we desperately needed. Then the buyer called late one evening and told us he had problems getting the money, but could offer us half the money as a down payment and would get the rest to us in 2 more weeks. It wasn't what we had hoped for, but it sure would help. 

Then that turned into a disaster because he was a no show once again. 

Our last option was hoping for a Christmas bonus from Maynard's work.  Which the bonus came, but not in a here's your money kind of way. It's a long story, but in other words we got a bonus, but couldn't spend it. 

 

Maynard and I left the kids with Tara one evening and we set off to do some meager shopping with a little bit of money we had left over from the bills. 

 

We had enough money to buy the kids a few gifts a peice. It wasn't going to be a grand extravagant Christmas, but we got them a few things they had asked for and we were thankful to be able to get those for them. We never go all out at Christmas anyway, but this was really cutting it down a few notches. My kids would be getting a few gifts here and there from other family members so it would be more than enough. I mean I just cleaned their room and it took me 3 hours so it wasn't like they needed more toys anyway. Ha ha

Also, the past couple years my kids have been begging to stay at home on Christmas morning. Tradition was that we always went to my Mom and Dad's for Christmas and I had a hard time letting go of that tradition. It was a little easier this year because everyone agreed to meet at Mom and Dad's at 5pm on Christmas evening to give everyone more time at home or with their inlaws. So we decided this year to just stay home for Christmas and drive down to my parents that evening. 

We loved it!!  Something about being at your own house for Christmas just made it so much more special. 

Christmas Eve was spent finishing up last minute things that needed done including making a few treats. The kids always make a gingerbread man during Christmas and they all had had the stomach virus and no one thought a gingerbread man even sounded good. Now that it was Christmas Eve and everyone felt better we decided to go ahead and make one after I got caught up in the kitchen. 

The finished project!!

Maynard got off work early and we ate lunch at Shilohs and then got ready to head over to the Parker's Christmas party. For some reason I didn't take any pictures while we were there. 

Here they are getting ready to open their gifts from Tara on Christmas Eve because she had to work on Christmas Day. 

I locked myself in my room to start wrapping gifts. I came out a little later and seen this:

My kids know Santa isn't real, but it's still fun to play along anyway. 

I went to check on Amelia. 

I seriously can't even handle the sweetness here. Amelia was asleep with her new princess Barbies. 

I finished wrapping gifts and cleaned my house again for the 50th time that day. I layed my head down in the bed at 2:30am. Maynard was tossing and turning during the night and he said, "I can't sleep for still delivering packages."  I said: "Well, you're delivering, but I'm wrapping them."  Apparently we both were having a hard time resting. 

Before I knew it Titus and Josiah was in my face telling me it was Christmas morning and time to wake up. I tried to convince them that Christmas started at 8:00 and not 6:15. It didn't work because come to find out Maynard was the one that had woke them up in the first place. He wasn't brave enough to wake me up and sent the boys instead. Ha ha

We were all up and ready to start our own new Christmas traditions. 

Maynard read the Christmas story and then we all prayed before tearing into the gifts. 

Presents under the tree!!!

First gifts to open. 

Josiah asked for a tool set. He was so proud of his tools. He had to take them to show Papaw later on that evening. 

Amelia asked for a Princess Belle doll. She was so happy when she opened it. 

Titus was a little harder to buy for. He only wanted sports stuff. Of course he already has most stuff so I had a harder time buying for him. 

This picture really makes me proud. Here I had fretted about my kids not getting very many gifts and afraid they wouldn't like what they got. I was so wrong. They were more than thankful. This picture proves it. 

Since last summer Titus has been begging for "Beef Turkey" that they sell at the fruit stands or the flea-market. We bought him a huge bag of it and I put it in an old iron box. 

When Titus unwrapped his gift all he seen was the box with an iron on it. We told him that I was gonna teach him how to iron and that was going to be his new job so we got him his own iron to use. He smiled and was like "ok cool."  He even posed for this picture and was still smiling. Finally we told him to open it and this was his reaction:

Yep!!  Passed out in the floor. Lol

All the gifts and stockings were opened. The kids were playing with their toys and games. 

I fixed breakfast and even used my Gingerbread man China plates. The kids thought that was extra special too so that is a tradition I hope to continue. 

I made breakfast quesadillas, breakfast casserole, hashbrowns and breakfast burritos.  It was delicious. I had done most of the work the day before so it didn't take long at all. 

After we ate we played with the kids for awhile. 

 Amelia is undefeated at Candy Land. This game made her feel so grown up because she understood how to play all on her own. That doesn't mean she won't try to cheat either. Just saying.....

Daddy and his boys playing a good game of Sorry. 

All too soon it was time to get dressed and head to my parent's house. We had a great time there as well and had some yummy food and treats. Maynard had to work the next day so we had to drive back home again that night, but it wasn't too bad. Somehow I managed to drive all the way home so he could rest. 

Our kids never mentioned only having a few gifts to open. They were so thankful for what they got. I can't tell you how many times they hugged me and Maynard and told us Thank you and ...... 

Wait for it.............

they even said......

"This was our best Christmas ever!!" 

 I am crying as I write this because all I had to do was trust in God. I just knew my kids were going to have a disappointing Christmas. I hated it, but yet God had given me peace about it already and now I know why. I wanted God to help us get that money so we could have a bigger Christmas. Yet God wanted us to not get that money and to trust Him and we would still have a good Christmas. I debated on writing about this, but hated not too. I won't mention any names though. The night Maynard and I had shopped for the boys we got back home fairly late. There was a Christmas card in the mail with $100 inside. It was from someone who felt like they needed to send us some money. We were so happy because that money would help out so much. We could buy more gifts, we hadn't bought stocking stuffers yet, it could pay for food for our Christmas breakfast and so on. Well, that was on a Saturday. The next morning we had church. Would you believe God nudged me to put that $100 bill in the offering?? Oh no!!!  I needed that and I needed it bad. I whispered it to Maynard hoping he would talk me out of it. He handed me a tithing envelope. Ha ha. Not what I was hoping here. Lol. So I put the money in the offering plate and just trusted in The Lord!!!  The Lord giveth and The Lord taketh away. Ha ha ha!!!  

So here it is 2 days after Christmas and I checked the mailbox like always. There was a money order for $200 inside. It just said "Merry Christmas". I was beyond myself with excitement. Maynard said, "Aren't you glad you obeyed God and gave him the $100 so He could turn around and double it for you?"  

So why didn't He work it out so I could have money before Christmas?

Because!!!!  Because he wanted to prove His love and test my faith. 

We had a Great Christmas. What was supposed to be the worst Christmas ever turned out to be the BEST!!

I hope everyone of y'all had the best Christmas ever!!  Whether you had 1 gift to open or 100. I can truly say I am happy for you!!!!