Merry Christmas 2008!!!

Christmas morning was here and gone before I knew it. I was alone at the top of the steps besides my best friend, Pip. He was dressed to the nines in his reindeer outfit. We came downstairs together and opened my presents. It was rather lonely without Jessica but I talked to her before I ever even got out of bed. We both woke up at the same time without even planning it. It must be the sisters within us!We began unwrapping presents and enjoyed being together. Dad put on the coffee and the cinnamon rolls and got me some OJ and we finished opening presents. My favorite present is as follows: Grandma gave me the last piece of my Great Grandma Hazel's jewelry. It is a beautiful pearl necklace with an H in a circle next to it. It is BEAUTIFUL. I am so thankful. She told me she knew she wanted me to have that piece. It is just so special to me. One of my presents I opened Pip thought he needed to help. He really tore the paper off for me. It was cute.And of course I had to get a few children's books : )
After we unwrapped presents, we got everything ready to head to the Parkers for lunch. We got over there around 1 and started chowing down! After lunch, Grandma did her devotional with all of us. She has a book called "Then Sings My Soul" which gives a hymn and the story behind the hymn. So she chose 5 Christmas hymns and we learned the story behind each one. I am so lucky to have such a great Grandma. As a young child I would always want to go and play with my Christmas toys and not want to sit through the Christmas devotional (normally led by Grandpa) but as I have aged I look forward to the time I am able to hopefully gain an ounce of their wisdom to pass on to my children one day. The scary part is I already can see my dad doing the devotionals that will last for hours after Christmas/Thanksgiving lunch...After lunch and the devotional we all sat around for a little while then headed home. As we pulled into the driveway, Mom and I both saw him. The beautiful red cardinal. Absouletly AMAZING. God always gives us the gift of seeing a cardinal on special days when we are away from our loved ones-whether they be in a different state, different county or in heaven, the Lord is good to provide and show us, I AM HERE! He is the reason for the season and blesses me daily. Praise be to him for the red cardinal on Christmas day!
I played with my IPOD and set up everything and before long Justin arrived. I was so happy to be able to spend Christmas with him. I am blessed that we were close enough to be able to do this. It was such a great feeling to have Christmas day and have my favorite person with me. Thank you Justin for coming to see me and my family. I love you more than words.We exchanged presents once he got here. He seemed to love his wallet and gift cards and we switched out his wallet for him. We gave each other a price limit. I went over by like fifteen dollars...however, Justin had to be Justin and went over quite a bit more than that! He got me a BEAUTIFUL two-toned, diamond circled Seiko watch!!! Its lovely and so nice and I am so thankful for the "time" he gives me and we have together! He is the best and my best friend and the most wonderful man ever!! Love love him!