The family starred in the church program. I got a reprieve after a large role last year. I figure either the "director" had mercy on me or I was terrible last year! Either way is fine with me. I loved getting to do my mama-razzi bit! Hubs provided his annual dose of comic relief to the program. He was actually cast in a semi-serious role with pretty tame lines but never fear, he is great at improvisation. As the Giant from Jack and the Beanstalk, he read "the giant arose to discover Jack stealing his golden goose" and that translated into "the giant arose, stretched and gave his kiester a mighty scratch." He got a good laugh out of it so he was satisfied.
The girls were bugs. My big girl was a bumble bee (and a mighty darn cute one, I might add) while Molly was a ladybug. Mags had no lines and couldn't wait to get off the stage. She was asked to help the little kids and agreed but didn't realize all her friends would be doing sets. She couldn't get out of her costume fast enough! Molly had a fitting line - "You smell bad!" and did it with her usual sass! But her big moment was during the song. She belted out every word and did her actions with flair. She has received many compliments on her performance and I'm certain she's earned a larger role next year!
We have a tradition in our house that includes opening a family gift on Christmas Eve. We bumped that up a day early to catch the premiere of "We Bought A Zoo" starring Matt Damon. I can not tell you how much we loved this movie. There were a few swear words I thought were unnecessary but the story itself made it easy to forgive those. Staring at Matt Damon didn't hurt either! If you haven't seen it, please go!
Christmas Eve we invited hub's family over to watch the Denver Broncos take on the Bills. Tim Tebow has made the second half of the Broncos season much more interesting than the first. Unfortunately, the coaches didn't let Timmy work his magic during this particular game and we lost. BOOOO! We did have a nice visit with his parents though. They were the only ones from his side we got to see this year. I treasure my family and back home in Colorado, we always spent the holidays together. I'm learning that other families don't have those same traditions. That's not always easy for me.
We wrapped up Christmas Eve with part II of our family gift...new jammies. By buying them new jammies every year and giving to them on Christmas Eve, I ensure that they have nice PJs on for the Christmas morning photos. Mission accomplished.
Christmas day we woke up early and ate Mimi's cinnamon rolls for breakfast. When she gave me the roll recipe from her 1960s Betty Crocker Cookbook, I learned that the roll recipe was the same recipe used for the cinnamon rolls. They came out perfect on the first try. Now no matter where she is, our Mimi is always with us on the holidays.
We seemed to have a theme going this holiday...soccer. Mags asked for and got soccer related gifts - including her sweatshirt with Lionel Messi's colors and number on the back.
We spent the afternoon with some very good friends who we actually consider family. It made me realize that while it is always hard for me to be away from my family, there are special people...chosen family...who can still make the day special.
Hope you had a wonderful holiday as well!
