We've done our Christmas decorating at some interesting times. Last year our tree was up and the house decorated by November 3 (since I was home for Homecoming but wasn't coming back for Thanksgiving, I suckered my family into doing it then). And in 1998, we decorated our house on Christmas Eve ... after all, we had only moved in that morning! But I've been there for all of them.
This year, it just wasn't realistic to decorate at Homecoming (because L & I had gotten there a day earlier, we each were leaving a day earlier than we had last year). Plus, my dad had more to do during the weekend than he ever had before. And we were all utterly exhausted by the time we got back from the football game. It wouldn't have been fun for anyone (even me), and I wasn't about to ask my family to do it.
But then I realized what I was missing out on today. So instead of focusing on what I'm missing, I want to rejoice in the day(s) that the Lord makes for us. And first I'm going to say thanks for my yesterday.
I woke up early to try my hand at Monkey Bread. I messed up the recipe a little (I was reading it in one room and implementing it in another, so naturally I made a few
mistakes), but it still turned out well. Sara and I prepared the turkey (we made this herb butter rub that involved me sticking my hand all the way between the skin and the meat), put it in the oven, then settled in to watch the parade (let me tell you, DVR makes cooking while parade-watching so much better). After Santa made his grand entrance (you can't miss Santa!), we finished up our preparations and Garrett (our friend from school) arrived. Dinner turned out really well, and we had a good time just hanging out around the table talking and laughing together. I've included a few pictures of our handiwork.
After cleaning up (my least favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal), we headed off to see Four Christmases. It's not my favorite movie of all time, and there's a lot of people I wouldn't recommend it to. But it was okay, and there were some really funny moments. Once we were back home, we brought out our homemade pies (apple and chocolate meringue) and ate as we watched the last half of Home Alone (one of my all-time favorite Christmas movies). We followed that up with Christmas Vacation (and a little more pie), then I headed upstairs for the night to read and relax.
It was a really good day. I missed my family occasionally, but I was so blessed to have such a fun and relaxing day here in Williamsburg. I'm looking forward to decorating our house for Christmas (we'll do it - quickly - once Myra gets back from Fredericksburg), and then hopefully finals will fly by (in a good way) and I'll be winging my way back to Texas.
So now I'm going to rejoice in the day(s) that the Lord has made, yesterday, today and in the future, and I will rejoice in the days in which -- someday -- I'll put all of this studying to good use : )
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