The Festivities Begin

Day 71:
Blogging throughout the day.

9:35 - In my apron...ready to bake.

12:05 : 4 batches of goodies...biscotti, Christmas candy, & peanut butter cup cookie. Mmmmmm.

12:15 - Still need to clean the house and finish one last scarf. Time is ticking down. Feeding the baby. Looking at my beautiful babies. Praising the Lord for this Christmas together as a family. 

12:30 - He just came in with my Christmas present. He got my ring fixed. I didn't even realize that he had taken it out of my jewelry box. Never a more PERFECT gift!

1:00 -Guests start arriving early. My house is still a mess and there are still baked goods cooling! Ah well.

2:00 - The festivities begin as everyone else arrives.

4:00 - I turned to hug my husband after everyone else had settled into the other end of the house...it all hit me. The realization that we could have been having Christmas apart this year. Everything. The flood of emotions overwhelmed me and brought me to tears. He held me and whispered into my ear. He's sorry. He loves me. He is so happy that we are together...today and always.

6:45 - The house is cleared out.

7:00 - More guests...different guests start arriving.

8:15 - I can't stop staring at my ring. There it rests in its place. There it twinkles unnoticed by most. 

9:00 - The kids crash after a long but fun day.

10:00 - Our guests leave after a peaceful evening.

11:00 - The food is all put away. There is paper and gifts everywhere. There are a few things still to be wrapped for tomorrow.

11:30 - The house is quiet. I sit here and write and watch my husband out of the corner of my eye. Sit here and hold back tears as I think about (again) what this Christmas could have been like. I sit here and have never been more excited for Christmas morning.

Tomorrow will be a calm day. A quiet day. No guests. Just us. Our family. Just the 3 gifts that we got (mostly handmade) for our babies. We will celebrate the birth of our Lord. We will celebrate our family. It will be another day of our new life. It will be another day of love.

294 days. ..."because there was no room for them in the inn." Luke 2:7