Wednesday, December 19, 2012

CHRISTMAS FUN!


Like many of you yesterday I decided to take a day of silence in blogland and devote as much time as possible to prayer for all the parents, grandparents, and friends of all those who were involved in Friday's tragedy.  My heart is STILL very heavy over this, and I will continue to pray for what can be nothing besides a very difficult time for them all.

I have had a VERY busy last few days (as I am sure many of you have as well) so I am going to try to catch up here as best I can, so sorry in advance, it is kind of long.  Let's see...  Last Friday afternoon I picked up my DIL Leah and headed down to San Diego for the women's Christmas dessert at church.  We left early so as to not only avoid traffic, but to be able to spend some much needed one on one time as well.  What a wonderful time we had.  Soo much to talk about.  We did spend quite a bit of time discussing Fridays horrible events of course and shared both tears and prayer over it all.  We decided to do a little shopping once we got there and realized we had plenty of time to do so.  I bought Leah a beautiful new coat for Christmas as she needed one soo badly, and it looked soo good on her.  I intended to take a picture of her in it, but I ended up forgetting so you will just have to take my word for it, haha.  After shopping we had dinner at a wonderful Mexican restaurant and visited and chatted our time away.  After we finished eating though we noticed it had begun to rain HEAVILY and I became concerned about finding my way around a city I am not very used to in the dark and the rain.  Luckily, I managed to get my son on my car (HOW I HAVE LOVED HAVING ON STAR IN MY CAR!) phone and he easily got us to where we needed to be.  The dessert was WONDERFUL!  And I didn't even eat any of the desserts, haha!  Between my gluten free diet, the need to avoid sugar now as well...sigh, and my "fluffy type" figure, I am sure it was all for the best.  But they did look yummy, and I enjoyed some tasty herbal tea.  But the highlight of course of the evening was the guest speaker.  It was Sandy McIntosh from Calvary Chapel San Diego!  I was soo excited to hear her.  And I was not disappointed!  What a wonderful ministry she has.  She spoke to us for almost an hour on the subject of Christmas and how it affects all of us, but mostly all of us women.  It was just soo good, soo inspiring, and soo timely.  She has us all both rolling in the aisles laughing, and wiping tears as well.  But I will never forget some of the things she said, and the simple truth of the gift of Jesus at Christmas, and what it means to us believers.  It was over at 9:30 and I needed to get gas so we scurried out right away.  By the time I took Leah home, driving S L O W L Y in the pouring rain, it was almost midnight before I got into bed.  But it was worth every minute.  My other DIL Larissa was in charge of putting this whole event together, and so I know first hand how much time and effort it took to accomplish this.  But the Lord sure blessed her efforts, and I was happy it all went so well.  Here are a couple of pics.

This is of the associate's Pastors wife on the left, and my DIL Larissa on the right.  (she had on the prettiest red  shoes! haha)  Such beautiful, sweet natured women of God.

SOME OF THE CROWD.  THE CENTER PIECES WERE LOVELY!

Then on Sat. hubby and I had to brave the crowds and go out and find a couple of gifts I was having a hard time with online.  One of them took us to Toys R Us, and I guess I don't really need to say more about that on the second to last Sat. before Christmas!  Oh my!  What a mess...BUT! we did FINALLY find what we were looking for after traveling to a few of them.  I told hubby it made me feel like the dad in Jingle All the Way, haha,  What we will do for our grandkids though!  After we finally finished up our shopping (all done now btw) we had barely enough time to go home and change so we could go to the Candlelight Pavillion for their annual Christmas play/musical.  It is just something we have done every year since Melody was 3 years old.  It is a wonderful dinner and then a fun play about the wonder of Christmas.  This year we decided to take a couple of our grands, as the whole experience is so much more enjoyable with little ones.  We took Lindsey and Jeffie.  They only live about 10 minutes from the place so that helped make our decision, and next year we will hopefully take another set of them.  Anyway, WHAT fun we had.  I honestly loved every minute.  I think the rest of the evening can be told through my pictures, so here you go....
LINDSEY AND JEFF IN FRONT OF SOME OF THE TREES IN THE  LOBBY.

WITH GRANDMA!



THEY GAVE THESE LITTLE GINGERBREAD MEN AND SUPPLIES TO DECORATE THEM WITH TO THE KIDS BEFORE THEY SAT DOWN FOR DINNER.  HOW DARLING IS JEFFIES?!

PUTTING HIS DECORATION ON!

IN FRONT OF THE KID TREE!
THEY ALSO GAVE THE KIDS THESE LITTLE CARDS TO WRITE THEIR LETTERS TO SANTA!

AND PUT A MAIL BOX BY THE KID TREE FOR THEM TO MAIL THEM

JEFFIE MAILING HIS!

POSING WITH GRANDMA AT THE TABLE

AND NOW WITH GRANDPA!
THE KIDS GOT THEIR OWN BOTTLES OF ROOT BEER!  SOO GRANDPA!

JUST HAVING FUN!
ENJOYING DESSERT DURING INTERMISSION

JEFFIE LOVING HIS CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM WITH STRAWBERRIES!
TOWARDS THE END OF THE SHOW ALL THE KIDS JOIN SANTA AND MRS. CLAUS ON THE STAGE.  NOTICE JEFFIE LAUGHING AT ONE OF THE ELVES.  HE SAID, " THEY KEPT TRYING TO MAKE ME LAUGH GRANDMA"
CLOSE UP OF JEFFIES FACE...SOO CUTE!

CLOSE UP OF LINDSEY'S.  AT 12 SHE WAS A LITTLE SCANDALIZED TO BE UP THERE WITH ALL THE LITTLE ONES, BUT SHE SECRETLY ENJOYED IT I THINK, HAHA!
All  in all it was such a fun night, and a memory I will cherish forever,  Again, in the wake of last Friday's event, it does make you appreciate these moments all the more.

SPORTING HIS NEW SHIRT AND "CHRISTMAS" SOCKS FROM HIS SISTER
And then FINALLY (almost done I promise) today (I am writing this on Mon, morning Dec 17th) is my wonderful husbands birthday, so I so want to wish him a happy birthday (he ALWAYS reads my blogs, though he never comments, haha) and pray that the Lord blesses him with many, many more.  How I love and appreciate this man.  After last years GIANT party, we went back to our usual quiet time celebrating this year by just hubby and I going out to dinner tonight.  I do need to run and get him a gift and card though so I'd best finish this and get cracking.  I don't know about the rest of you, but I am VERY VERY close to being all ready for Christmas 2012.  I am looking forward to more time with family and praising God for all my blessings.

Reading this back over this morning, I decided to add that I took my mom to the neurologists yesterday and she is doing very well.   No seizures for over two months now, so we are going to cut back a little bit on her medication to see if we can't get the same results with a little less side effects.  I am going to begin praying that this indeed does happen, as mom struggles so when so heavily medicated.  Hope you all have a wonderful day!



11 comments:

  1. So nice catching up with you and enjoying the festive photos of you and your family. Sweet!

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  2. Hi my friend, Loved catching up with you! I just have to say that you are such a beautiful woman Debbie-you shine with love. Hope you have a wonderful fun day!
    Love, Noreen

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  3. Oh how I can appreciate those special things you do with the grands, because we have had such a wonderful time doing those kinds of things with ours!!! They will remember it forever too!!! I love the pics...and you are looking trim and wonderful Debbie! Loved the photo of hubbies pant leg, shirt and Christmas socks!!!! Such a nice post, and yea for your Mom doing well.
    All great things!!!
    And I loved Larissa's shoes too!!
    Merry Christmas Debbie
    xo Kris

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  4. Such good photos of you and your grandchildren. Enjoyed catching up, had to laugh about the Toys R Us story we were fortunate not to have to go there this year...found all my stuff online. Continue to enjoy the holiday

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  5. As always I love your photos!!! I just love all of the life in them. It makes my day to see how much fun you all have.
    I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week and I hope your Mom does okay with less medication. That is so good that she hasn't had any in a while.
    You have such beautiful grandchildren.

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  6. I love women's events like that! And, your grandchildren are just adorable! You've been a busy woman, hope you have a blessed Christmas with your family.

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  7. I'm glad your mom's seizures seem to be being kept at bay. What a huge praise that is!

    Every picture you show, and everything you describe is just wonderful in this post. It looked like you were really able to be blessed by the season. (And I'll bet your 12 year old did indeed enjoy it, too.)

    Happy Birthday to your husband! Any man who is fun enough to wear Christmas socks is a keeper in my book. Glad you have him!

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  8. It is a treat to step into your world for a few minutes this evening. There are so many emotions and great pictures included. You are a busy lady who sure has a gift for making the best of all that God sends into your life. I do find myself smiling as I read your posts. Your humor is a gift and I like how it comes through as you write. Great pictures!

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  9. What beautiful photos of you and your grandchildren. Glad you had a nice time! Love the gingerbread tree and ornaments they decorated.

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  10. Loved reading all about what you and yours have been up to, Debbie. Glad your mom is doing better. The pictures are all so sweet. I just love this time of year.

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  11. Loved catching up on all your happenings.. The weekend sounds and looked like it was just a great weekend spent with loved ones.. I can't think of a better way to spend it.. Glad to hear about your mom. I pray the drop in medication works.. Merry Christmas!
    Robyn

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I am so glad that you would take the time to comment on my thoughts and feelings, it is such a blessing to me!