Christmas is always special.  This year it was extra special for my wife and I.  Since we are in the process of adopting 2 boys, this was our first Christmas with our kids.  It’s been 4 awesome months since we had them placed in our home.  We had so much fun buying them gifts and spending time with the family.  We also threw a birthday party for Jesus and had cake, etc.  It was truly a wonderful day.  We were also blessed with having a white Christmas.  A very cold but white Christmas.  I think we ended up with at least 7 inches of snow and the snow drifts from the 50mph wind conditions made it even deeper in places.

Last year we flew up to Seattle to my family for Christmas and was stuck in about 18″ of snow.  It started falling a couple hours before we landed and didn’t really stop for a day or two.  So we are blessed to have two white Christmas’ in a row.  In fact if we would have been in Texas this Christmas we would have had a white one as well. (very unusual)

I love the Christmas lights too.  This year we took the boys to a city park with all these lights and it took FOREVER, but we enjoyed them and had fun even though it was a late, late night for all of us.

Christmas – the Birth of Jesus:
Luke 2:8-16 (ESV)

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And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.10 And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

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Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!

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When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.

The forecast changed rapidly and some times the news meteorologists have been wrong.  But not a few days ago.

I drove up to my Christmas destination on the evening of the 23rd.  It was really crazy.  When I left it was 73 out.  a 2.5 hour drive later and it was in the 40′s.  The original forecast earlier that day talked about a chance of a trace of snow and really cold weather over Christmas.  When I arrived the forecast change to 1-2″ of snow.  Now bedtime we check again and now it’s changed to 2-4″ of snow but not until mid day after some rain and sleet.

So when we woke up, nothing major was taking place and my mother in law and I were headed into town to get some last minute things a little more food, just in case we lost power, etc.  About 9 or so, sleet was starting to accumulate pretty fast so we took off.  For me the roads were not that bad.  Mostly slush at this point.  By the time we were done, all the non snow driving people were getting stuck and trying to do things you just don’t do in the snowy weather.  Then the winds pick up to a constant 20-30 mph level.  Sleet hurts when it pelts you in the face at this speed.

By the time we got home they issued a blizzard warning and the snow started falling.  It was just crazy.  I think in total we got 7-8″.  The snow drifts with the 50mph gusts created some areas that were over 20″ deep.  It was fun and really cold, but it was nice to have a white Christmas.

I was thinking about to this last Christmas.  Yes I know it’s February but I was thinking of how good this idea was.  My cousin does this for her school or church and they do it the last couple of weeks in November.  They have a fundraiser by selling gift cards.  It’s actually a pretty good idea.  She shows us a list with a ton of stores on them and the percentage profit they make off of each sale.

Might be something my soccer team could do this summer for a fundraiser.

What I really liked though, is that we could get a bunch of gift cards, help out my cousin with her trip and also have gifts to give away.

Wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas..

When we got ready to head up to Seattle for Christmas we ended up having to take 3 bags to check on the airlines.  We have 1 big bag and 2 medium bags.  The airlines as you might know charge for extra checked bags.  I wish we would have thought about it sooner so we could have just bought another big bag so we could have only checked two.  So while we are here we are going to check out some big pieces of luggage and maybe even some Samsonite luggage.

Alaska only charged us $25 for our extra bag, so we are thankful for that, but if we can get through the snow and possibly buy a bigger bag.  That way we will not get charged for our flight home.

Well I get to see the family this week.  Looking forward to it actually.  Plus it’s Christmas.  We are pretty excited and ready to go.  I’m not sure how much I will post or be around over Christmas but will give it my best shot.  Hope everyone has a good weekend..

ps. For those ECers who drop cards, I might not be able to return drops till I get some time this week. Will try my best..