We started our Christmas Thursday afternoon when we drove up to Elizabethtown. I met one of my best friends, Joanna for lunch. We actually drove up a day early to meet up with her. Chris' dad, stepmother, stepbrother and stepsister live up there. We spent Thursday night, Christmas Eve and Christmas morning/early afternoon there. Niki, Chris' sister had come in from Jackson, Mississippi for her Christmas break from school. His stepmother made a wonderful lasagna Christmas Eve dinner (and a tasty Christmas morning brunch). We enjoyed opening presents from each other after dinner. Then, we all went to Christmas Eve worship service at Grace Heartland Church, Chris' home church at 7:00 p.m. The snow started coming down around the time we got out, 8:00 p.m. Chris, his sister and I slid home in the car, washed some dishes and headed back out in the mess to attend music practice at 10:00 p.m. and Christmas Eve worship service at Valley Creek Baptist Church at 11:00 p.m. Chris and Niki were both asked to play music at this service. They're good friend, Josh is the worship leader, and this is the church that Niki served before heading to Jackson, Mississippi for seminary in the fall. Chris' dad and stepmother were going to attend the service after dropping off the kids with their dad, but the weather had become inclement. After they slid home in their truck, they were done with driving for the evening. Christmas Eve turned into Christmas day during worship, and the music and sermon about how the Christmas story is about obedience was beautiful and convicting. We walked out of church to see more snow. Luckily, the roads were a little better than they were when we were driving there. Bits and pieces had been salted and scraped. Chris carefully drove back to his parent's house. We made it the edge of their yard, but with the road at both a curve and a downward slope, we slid slightly off the road and into the yard. We peeled out a bit in the snow, were stuck for a moment, then made it back onto the road. We inched our way into the driveway. FINALLY at his parent's home safe! Praise God!
Once everyone had gone off to bed (a long winter's nap), Chris and I had middle-of-the-night private time of opening gifts. He got a fun guitar pedal that he wanted, and I got a beautiful pair of crystal earrings. Thanks, Chris!
That's right. They hid his real gifts and wrapped his underwear for him to open. The Carter's have a dark sense of humor. They like to momentarily steal Christmas joy.
No comments:
Post a Comment