Merry Christmas!

Its been a hectic few days with the buildup to Christmas, exhausting and exciting all in one! This year I've learned that Christmas is the most exhausting holiday for parents! haha! Although we've really enjoyed the festivities that have gone on, I'll be sad for everything to quiet down! Just in the past couple of weeks we've taken Mason to downtown Grapevine where he got to ride the North Pole train ride with Dee dee and Papaw, they also had some fun other things going on too. THe next day Colleyville had a Celebrate Christmas deal too, so Mason had a blast with pony rides, petting zoo, saw Santa and more. Last week was his last week of school before the break so they had Santa come for a visit, made tons of gifts and crafts for Moms & Dads (which I oogle over of course because my child has inherited my creative skills!!!) along with a big party to finish things off. Saturday while I went to work Gavin and Mason headed down to Albertson's where they had a big deal going on with Santa coming in for a visit in a Helicopter (Mason apparently just was in AWE!) So we've been busy for sure!
We had an amazing Christmas today- we always head to my Dad's house first thing in the morning for gifts with my Dad, Josh, Amy, Chris & Rilee and us. Rilee just loves to rip into presents (doesnt quite matter who's it is! haha) while Mason wants to play with the toys right away!
Mason made out really well with all of his new things- a choo choo train, books, Thomas the train dvds, Barney dvds, Little Einstein dvds, gift card to TRU, new pair of shoes, a bubble lawn mower and a few other things. the BIG toy that just absolutely MADE HIS DAY/YEAR is Papa got him a Little Tikes slide- wow Uncle Josh couldn't put it together fast enough for Mason! He just ran around in circles screaming, "Slide! Slide!" He definitely wore himself out today with all the sliding he did! Between Mason's birthday a few weeks ago and Christmas we've learned Papa knows the perfect things that Mason just LOVES!
Mom and Dad made out some with pretty good loot too! Lots of gift cards to lowe's, starbucks, nordstrom, itunes...I was also excited that I got a new flat iron, an ice cream maker, a blue tooth earpiece and a few other things...funny thing- Gavin knows me too well (or maybe finally knows me!ha!) Gavin got me a new keyless entry for the Yukon! Mines been broken for at least 6 months and I never have time to go buy a new one- so Gavin got a great reaction when I opened that up! I'm so excited! haha!
We came home relaxed for a while, got the turkey and pies baked before a quick nap and then headed back to my Dad's house where the WHOLE family (Gavin's family and Amy's mother in law and sister in law come too) gorged ourselves on turkey, ham and all the fixins. Then the fun starts- we do 2 fun games with the whole family- 2 gift exchanges- 1 is a white elephant gift exchange-which thanks to my wonderful hubby I'm so excited about what he (I) ended up with- a Ped Egg (pedicure type thing...or as gavin calls it a cheese grater for your feet) you dont know how much I NEED IT! already used it and i LOOVE it. So for our 2nd game, I got a bonus for Gavin (one of the many benefits of being married maybe? lol) For our 2nd game we do a $5 gift card or $5 value of something someone would really want...gavin and I both ended up with a $5 Lowe's gift card- so add up all of our Lowe's gift cards- we're pretty set! :-D
More than anything, as much as we get excited over gifts we receive, I get just as much fun out of giving the great gifts that I get so creative with. :-D I love christmas just because its an entire day of spending time with family and enjoying each other! We've got round 2 coming up on Sunday with Gavin's family when his cousins come into town- so that should be a fun day too!
I hope everyone had a safe and MERRY Christmas! We've had a great holiday season and truely enjoyed our Christmas and appreciate the reason for the season.
Thinking about what we really celebrate at Christmas has gotten me thinking lately about Mary and Baby Jesus. I'm now somewhat close to 8 months pregnant...knowing that trip that Mary made with Joseph to Bethlehem and being a full 9 months pregnant- she didn't get to ride in a comfortable YUKON or a quick flight on an airplane....she rode on a donkey. I could NOT imagine being that pregnant and riding on a donkey...poor girl, i couldn't imagine the braxton hicks contractions that probably caused! Let alone popping out Baby Jesus in a stable WITH NO EPIDURAL. poor poor girl. I bet it was that long donkey ride that caused her to go into labor. All in all, I know that the King of Kings had to have had a humble beginning, and how humble that is! I'm wondering if that's why the Catholics honor Mary so much, not just because she's the virgin Mary, but also because of what she went thru? ha! Anyway, yes my strange sense of humor and being pregnant gets me to wonder about certain things. Maybe its just the sugar I'm hopped up on from the Christmas goodies!