...I hope you enjoyed Christmas

because she is so out of here today, sneaking out the service entrance before today's sweetheart, Valentine's Day shows up. And what did we get for our $450 BILLION? Apparently dissatisfaction because today is about as busy as Black Friday. All of us waiting in line to return the "thoughtful" gifts that we received. When will we learn that what we want cannot be bought?

But buy is what we try every year. And shortly after lunch someone is crying. Guess that stuff we keep burdening ourselves with isn't really making us any happier. Now I will attest to some joy being given and received this year at our house. I got a Pampered Chef baking square, some pizza paddles and an Aerogrow. I was very joyful. But what I really wanted all of that for is for making bread, which will bring joy to us throughout the year.

Princess is very joyful, she received a Dollhouse, a Kingdom complete with a horse and "courage". I toppled the candelabra, luckily Boog got a firetruck and was able to rescue her kingdom. It was quite fun. Felpsy on the other hand was distraught from the lack of structure and schedule, lack of Wii time, lack of everything and had a rough day. The teens you'll all agree cannot be bought for, so they got cash, sue me I'm a horrible parent. Our nine year old was the most difficult, he still believes in Santa, but wants to be a big kid. We mixed it up a little, he got both cash and gifts, although not massive quantities of either.

Our favorite part of the Christmas Season, has never been under the tree. It's our Christmas Eve Eve dinner, and driving around looking at lights, and Christmas Eve services at church, and food that we only make at Christmas. It's the tradition. Which was the hardest part of being a foster parent without permanent placements. These kids come in with their own traditions, or no traditions at all, and why invest in someone else's tradition? Who even knows if we'll be here next year. I can remember about three Christmas presents, they were the same year and two of them were puppies. The other I remember because it was a hideous 80's outfit that is in all of my puppy pictures. Aside from that I remember Christmas Eve at grandma's, Christmas morning at home, Christmas afternoon at the other grandparents, and an evening of leftovers and board games. Christmas Eve dinner was soup, but we got the little crackers. We drew names so we only got one gift, which is another gift I remember all of us got a watch from Grandma the year we were in second grade. My uncle always wrapped his gift so that whomever received it needed a hammer and a crowbar, I don't recall that he ever gave a snowglobe.

So, I hope you enjoyed your Christmas, and if you haven't figured it out you cannot wrap love, or time, or grace, or salvation, and I hope you have all of that permeating your life.