Christmas Cheer

Unlike other years, Christmas started late at the Young's, it was on our minds, but amongst the regular hustle and bustle, everything was off track. The tree got up late, we decorated in shifts, the advent calendar was on time, thank goodness. But the Christmas feeling was struggling to break through. Everyday I prayed that we would feel the true meaning. The love of giving, the joy of sharing and the love of God. Well as Christmas snuck up on us day in and day out we weren't making much progress, until the snow came. Yep those 20+ inches. When we woke Sunday morning it was so beautiful outside, I love how the snow makes everything so quiet. The kids were bouncing off the walls in excitement and crawling up the walls in desperation to escape them. The house was filled with joy and time stopped, life stopped and things started to change. By 10AM the neighborhood started to stir and people we out, talking of the storm helping each other shovel cars out. Spreading salt, shoveling drives, neighbors we had never even talked to were now new friends, everyone was looking so happy with their cheeks roseyed by the cold. After lunch everyone was ready for a movie and quiet time except for Robb. (Boys need their outside time) He was having quite a time planning a snow fort and using the snow shovel to make the walls nice and strong. Every few minutes I would peak out the window to make sure all was well. When I didn't see him, I glanced around and found him across the street helping a neighbor shovel his driveway. He was working his hardest and enjoying every minute. After 30 minutes he came in and with the biggest grin, said, "Mom, Mr. Jemal paid me $4". After awhile he asked, "Do you think that I could earn money shoveling more dives?" And that is what he did, 9 driveways = $40 and a very tired little boy. In his excitement, he told me while I was tucking into bed, "Now I can buy the present I wanted to get for Dad." Yep, one sweet little boy made my Christmas worth it, and to take him to the store to buy that gift for his dad was the icing on the cake. I wish I could make the video work of Christmas morning. Robb was down the stairs faster than everyone, he ran past the stockings and straight to the tree were he picked up the gift and with all his heart repeated over and over, "Dad open this first, open this first".

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas too!

New Boots

New Bear

New Doll

New Nerf Swords