1. STAR WARS!!!! Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was amazing! How can you NOT enjoy a Star Wars movie? The whole series is arguably one of THE most creative stories written in our time and– thanks to CGI–it is depicted in such a realistic way, you almost expect to exit the theater and run into a few storm troopers and bounty hunters. I will not spoil it for any of you–I can just tell you that I enjoyed every part of it.
2.Making Christmas. More Christmas time traditions continue in our home–making sugar cookies is an essential one. I love how my boys make such unique creations–always carefully choosing which ones they want to leave out for Santa on Christmas Eve. I am amazed that neither of them gets sick from all of the “taste testing” of the frosting and sprinkles.
3. Christmas Eve Worship–but not on actual Christmas Eve. Super Rockstar and I get invited to lead worship at one of our most favorite churches each year for their Christmas Eve service. Since this particular church shares a building with another–they opted to do their Christmas Eve service on the Saturday night before. We enjoyed the entire candlelight service and then got to stick around for their annual Chili cookoff and hangout with some of our most favorite people.
4.Wearing them out before they drive me insane. School got out at 1:00pm on Friday the 21st. Between then and actual Christmas day felt like 6 months. Each day I tried to find something to keep my boys busy and distracted so they didn’t drive me completely up the wall with all of their excitement and frenzy over Christmas coming. Trampoline World to the rescue!
5. The big day. FINALLY! I LOVE how excited my boys are for Christmas day every year. I am addicted to their shrieks of joy and excitement as they race down the stairs to see what is waiting for them under the tree. This year Morgan had the itinerary all planned out–he said we were allowed to take two pictures(uh huh), then we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and then it was a whirlwind of ripping, shredding, shrieking, and jumping up and down.
Super Rockstar and I did NOT love the 5am wake up when we had specifically TOLD them to wait until at least 6 AM. We forgot that they don’t have a clock in their room, so they woke up at 5, came to our room to check our clock, went back to their room and repeated this every 5 minutes until we had finally had enough. Even Barney was struggling to keep his eyes open. After I had a vat of coffee to help me through the morning and then got to take a 2 hour nap–I can declare that it was a GREAT Christmas day!
6. Grandma and Papa’s House. The day after Christmas we always make the LONG, very un scenic voyage to my hometown of Hutchinson, Kansas. But, at the end of the tedious all day drive is the prize–Grandma and Papa’s house. My boys LOVE going to their grandparents house: there are nooks and crannies to explore, they have reclining chairs AND they get spoiled beyond reason. We love getting to see my folks and this year my sister and her husband,Todd were there as well as our niece Amy and her boyfriend, Zach. For our Christmas celebration my Dad always reads the Christmas story from the Bible, then there is the ripping and shredding of packages– all finished in 0.2 seconds, and finally….the FEAST. My mom makes the most delicious prime rib roast, gourmet cheese potatoes (that we all battle to get our fair share of) and it ends with delicious pecan and pumpkin pie. It was fun to just hang out, catch up, and eat WAY too much.
Thank you for hanging out with me at www.aftermycoffee.com this year! I love all the comments I receive on here, social media, and from those I see in person. I look forward to what 2020 brings for all of us and praying for God’s blessings poured out upon you and your loved ones. See you next year!