The 12 Days of Christmas

Ryan and I have done so many things this weekend! Some people talk about how stressful the holidays are when you have lots of places to be (AKA Delilah from 103.7 FM "The Holiday Station"), but I think that is crazy. Even when our schedule gets busy it's fun to spend time with people we love.

Friday night we had a fancy dinner with our Bible study friends. We all got dressed up in our most festive attire. We played Taboo and the girl team won... even if we did cheat a little bit. My friend Holly got out her nicest dishes and cooked a wonderful meal- steak, potatoes, pie... it was delicious! She was the perfect hostess for our special evening!

Saturday afternoon we headed to Royse City to see all of Ryan's family, including lots of aunts and cousins. We headed out the door right around noon thinking it would take about an hour. We did not account for there being construction and traffic on every major highway. Oops. We had a slight 2 1/2 hr traffic hold up, but at least we got to see SANTA!!!!!! He drove by us in a shiny red convertible with his dog. It was quite the sight! (And a nice surprise when we'd been in traffic for so long.)

We finally made it to the celebration and had a day full of games, food, and presents. Below is a picture of Ryan's grandmother, Mamaw opening her gifts with our nieces and other cousins. It was so sweet to see all those little girls around Mamaw and hear her talk about how deeply she loves her family and how thankful she is the God has never left her, despite some difficult times this year. When you hear older people share what they are thankful for it is usually much more focused on faith and a love for family rather than material things. Thanks for reminding us about what Christmas is really about, Mamaw. We love you!

And while we do agree that Christmas is about love.... presents are pretty fun too! We do a family gift card exchange with everybody and it always gets a little chaotic! Have you ever played a version of the exchange game where everyone gets to choose whether they will open a new present from under the tree or steal someone else's? I think I am too nice at this. It's funny to see things get stolen from other people, but I never want it to happen to me! And as a general rule, I try to consider if the person I'm about to steal from really wants what they have. For instance, I wanted the Outback card that my sister in-law Amanda had, but we were the ones who brought it, and I know Amanda and Brian love Outback, so I chose to open a new gift instead. Others were not so kind... Ryan and I got our gift cards stolen twice- to Cheesecake Factory and Saltgrass- but ended up with On the Border which is fine by me! Who doesn't love a little Mexican date night?

This afternoon (Sunday) I had the privilege of being invited to a Christmas party for 5th grade girls. They did a silly sock exchange (like our giftcard one, but much longer with 23 giggling girls!) They get super excited about everything and it was so much fun!

Would you believe there is actually a sweet little 5th grader inside of there? They had a contest to see which team could use toilet paper to wrap one of their teammates up and turn them into a snowman and this was the winner! It's amazing what you can do with 4 rolls of toilet paper. Notice the Dorito used for the mouth. It was the perfect touch!

We have more holiday events to come this week! What's a busy Bradley to do? I think go eat another cookie. Goodnight.