Christmas with the family

On Saturday, we were honored to host our Christmas with Shannon’s side of the family.
What a tremendous blessing, indeed. 

There was incredible food, lovely gifts, and precious time together. The weather was extremely mild so the kids were able to run around outside!

 The women gathered around the kitchen table after lunch and chatted away over coffee.
 Always a favorite of mine!

The men went outside and tossed the football for a while.
The children ripped and roared and played and had a grand time.

Uncle Roger posted this picture and said there was one missing…. 

How true it is.

Hosting is something that gives me such pleasure. Yes, it is a lot of work, but I don’t know if there is anything I like better than having family/friends over… enjoying food. laughter. conversation. and just simply being together. 

There was PLENTY that was not ‘just right’… things that maybe weren’t as clean as I hoped. There’s buckles in the floor. The ceiling still has the crack in it. There were plenty of places that needed a fresh coat of paint. Cobwebs may have been on the ceiling fan. It was a little cramped at times on space… and I worried about all those things before everyone got here, but after they were here, I just stopped. There was nothing else I could do but make everyone as comfortable as I could and be there and enjoy the time.  I pray that everyone felt the love that was shared inside and outside those walls like I hoped they would. 

Family and Christmas… thank you Lord for these gifts.