wouldn't you say? I am not talking about the kind of vacation where you have things jammed packed into a small amount of time - that kind of vacation has NEVER been vacation to me. It is the kind of vacation where you can see things and ENJOY things. The kind where you soak in the place that you are in. My DH comes from a "jam-packed" family, I come from the opposite. We have come to a "happy medium". We still do things and see things but we don't try to stuff as much as we can into the time that we are there. We enjoy meeting people and talking with locals - going to local favorites etc. So you ask, where is this all leading to?
It is leading to the fact that this year, when we decided to take vacation in the middle of December we didn't come home completely exhausted and we were able to really enjoy Christmas. We listened to nothing but Christmas music on our trip, watched nothing but Christmas movies on our trip and just really treasured where we were when we were there. That is vacation AND that to me is how Christmas ought to be.
We came home, finished up a little shopping but kind of resolved that we would look for a couple of things that we really wanted to get the kids AFTER Christmas. What a money saver!
We were also totally blessed. You know how after vacation, funds usually run a little low... well, we hadn't gotten our "big" Christmas tree. (I have a few little trees that I put around the house with different collections on them.) I didn't know if we would get one this year to be perfectly honest. I had already kind of prepped the kids for that and they were OK with it - kind of, Chase didn't really go for it, but he understood the reason. Well, on Christmas Eve we were delivering gifts to kids that had a parent locally incarcerated. We were leaving the first town that we had dropped gifts off in and on the exiting street there was a tree that was in a stand with a "FREE" sign on it. So guess what I did (I was driving as my DH only had an hour's worth of sleep), I flipped a "U-ee" and barreled down the street to go get it. The family behind us thought that I had made a wrong turn so they willingly followed along. Rob threw the tree in the back of the truck and off we went. I yelled out to the ones following us, "We need a tree for Christmas!" and we all gave a hoot of appreciation to the Lord for providing and off we went!
Here is our sweet provision from the Lord & how He always meets our EVERY need....
I was up until 3:30 am Christmas morning trying to finish up things around the house for that special morning. Mostly trying to bake the beloved Pecan Twist
and get things "just right".
Most of the packages had been wrapped so I was doing stocking stuffers, cleaning the house from the rest of the vacation aftermath etc. I wanted to decorate the tree but I was just sooo tired so I decided that I would put up a few of my special decorations and leave little buckets with a special note for each of the kids. There was also another reason to my madness - it would give me extra sleep time in the morning. I unwrapped each of the kids boxes of their own decorations, put them in a bucket and left a special note for each of them just from me and another one
that read something like this.... Dear Kids, I started to decorate the tree put I got to tired. Please finish decorating when you wake up in the morning. No fighting. I love you, Mom...
so they did!
Being as relaxed as I was from vacation, I was able to do a little baking...made about 10 of these little beauties for various people over the course of the week after Christmas. ( I still have a few more to finish!)
So basically, we are still celebrating the Christmas season around here. Rob & I have each done a little after Christmas shopping, coming home with little treasures for everyone. It has been a fun time this year though we are missing Toti.
Toti is still stuck in Las Vegas with the doctors doing what they can to get her heart rate to maintain a normal heart rate. It is either to low or racing. The doctors are trying to stabilize her so that she can go home and when she does get home that will bring changes to our house. We will be very limited in the things that we will be doing as we are going up periodically to help take care of her. Keep her in her prayers.
As the New Year approaches, may you be blessed with His loving kindness, family surrounding you and good friends beside you!
I am so looking forward to this coming year and all that it holds - thank you so much to all of you that have read my "on-line" journal. Mucho blessings and love!
Trixie
WOW!!! Talk about chatty Kathy. Goodness girl, I know what Kevin is talking about now! LOL
See, this is what happens when you are a slacker in blogville! You need to post as things happen not post jumbo posts. LOL
Love your little Christmas tree, I think it is perfect for your home. And the twist? I would love a piece of that right about now. I wouldn't be able to taste it but just knowing what it is would be enough. :)
So hey, if you were sleeping and the kids were hanging ornaments, was Rob snapping the pictures??? Just curious.
Alright, off to clean up my stamp desk. I will chat with you later. Love ya! Kare xo
Posted by: Karrie Baker | December 30, 2007 at 07:18 AM
Love the story about your Christmas tree. That's a God wink. Just a little something He sends you to remind you He loves you.
I will keep Toti in my prayers.
Posted by: sharon in ne | December 31, 2007 at 09:56 PM
Hi Trixie! Thanks for stopping by my blog - I hope you'll become a regular visitor and stay in touch :) I think the relationship you and Karrie have is awesome - you are two lucky girls to have each other! Happy 2008! :)
Posted by: Toni | January 13, 2008 at 02:11 PM
I need you to POST!!! Quit telling me how tired you are and get on it. I am tired of waiting around!!!!! LOLOLOLOLOL
Posted by: Karrie Baker | January 17, 2008 at 08:49 PM