Holiday Wrap Up

This morning I woke up to a lingering stress dream about school. I don't know if normal people get these about work, but I know other teachers get them. I usually only get them in August & they usually consist of showing up for the first day of school completely unprepared. This one was similar - I kept losing my kids, I picked my class up from the library 37 minutes late, and basically messed up everything I did the whole day. Ugh. Not a fun way to wake up...so I slept for another hour & then got up - all better! Well, to be honest, I haven't completely shaken the stress feeling, & I think I'm just gonna have to pick a day next week to go get some work done before I feel relief. Oh well, on to the fun stuff... Week 1 of the 'semester break' AKA Christmas Holiday was quite a whirlwind. We spent a couple of days with my family. Highlights include: Amy & Matt coming over to help put up our Christmas tree & just hang out; making cookies with Amy (my crappy ones & mom's good ones); visiting Aunt Betty & watching birds in her wildlife sanctuary of a backyard (if you look up 'peace' in the dictionary, I'm pretty sure you'll see a picture of her beautiful backyard); & all the good hangout time with my family. Christmas Eve is always reserved for church. John is involved in all 3 services (5, 7:30, & 10) so we're pretty much up there for the whole evening. It's actually become a nice tradition for the two of us (Side note: we are grateful for sweet Etta who takes care of us & makes sure we get a yummy dinner between services. She is a huge blessing & I am so thankful for her!) Other than the Christmas Eve worship services, our tradition is to come home (usually around midnight) and wrap each other's presents. Then, as soon as we're finished, we open them. I love it. John was very creative this year and got/made me some hilarious gifts. I'll have to post about a couple of them later on... Christmas day was spent with John's fam. Our sweet nephews were made to wait for us to get there until 8:15 (actually we got there at 8:17 - we're cruel that way) to open their presents. They were patiently waiting - each with a present in his lap - when we walked in the door. Chaos ensued & we enjoyed watching them play the rest of the day with all the fun new toys they received. Billy & Mary got us a cool hot beverage maker, so if you're feeling like a little Hot Chocolate, you now know where to go - we can't wait to try it out!! The day ended with the traditional Christmas dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, etc., the watching of 'It's a Wonderful Life', and the introduction of John's parents to Guitar Hero. Ha ha! The next day we went to the zoo & it was awesome! The weather was in the mid 60's & breezy, & all the animals were out and about. We got to see the giraffes let out of their little (meaning really tall) house (I've never seen them run before!), the hippos walking around before their pond was filled up (they so look like cartoons), the male lion do his morning roaring - which is quite impressive, & the lion cubs frolicking around with their mama. It was really really cool! We came home around 3 to meet Aaron & Esther who stayed with us last night. It was great to get a chance to hang out & reconnect. We hadn't seen them since their wedding last June, so we had plenty to catch up on - plus they got to introduce us to the Chai Tea Latte at Starbucks & we got to introduce them to Rob Bell & his cool books & Nooma Videos. All around it's been a great week! Yay for holidays!