Merry Christmas!

Since we stayed up so late Christmas Eve watching movies we awoke at 9:00! We opened presents. Some of the things that I got were: different kinds of pajamas from Victoria's Secret, paints, stationary (which I love, love, love), the book "Dear John" by Nicholas Sparks (my favorite author), and several magazine subscriptions. Some things that I got for Sam were clothes, hair trimmer, tools, etc. After opening our presents we began to cook for our lunch at Miss Anna's. We fixed broccoli casserole and made cookies and cream for dessert. When we got to O'burg we ate with Jason, Angela, Harry, Missi, Lee, Samantha, Christian, Anna, and Silas. Then we opened our gifts! What a fun Christmas! I've most enjoyed sitting on the couch watching movies with Sam and Mr. Kitty. Our Christmas tree was beautiful too!

Getting ready to decorate our first Christmas tree!

Hanging the first ornament!

Even Mr. Kitty likes it!

Wow! It's Christmas Eve and we've been married for six months! Today we went to the early morning church service, where we learned about "Understanding God's Love". A topic I've really come to personally understand. From the service we learned just how unconditional God's love really is for His children. The example Rev. Todd Carnes gave to emphasize this is the story of Dick Hoyt and his son Rick. Rick was born paralyzed. At 15 years of age Rick wanted his father to push him in his wheelchair in a 5K race, in order to raise money for an injured classmate. After the race Rick said that during the race he felt most normal. Since this brought joy to Rick, Dick entered many races with his sone, pulling him in a raft through water, bicycling him through long paths, etc. The love that Dick had for his son, Rick was unconditional! A link to watch this amazing father/son team is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64A_AJjj8M4&feature=related

This example helped me to more understand God's love for me and Sam.
After the service we came home to eat leftovers from D's Wings (my favorite restuarant. Afterward lunch we watched "Shanghi Noon" and then it was off to church again for the Christmas Eve service. Sam's parents drove from Orangeburg to join us at the church service.
After church we came home and cooked dinner for Sam's parents. We cooked porked chops, corn, peas, mashed potatoes, blueberry muffins, sugar cookies, and drank lots of sweet tea! When they left Sam and I fixed Starbucks coffee and watched "The Lion King 1.5" and "Trading Spaces".
This was such a fun Christmas Eve!