Growing in Grace: Christmas 2014 / 2015

We finally got to celebrate Christmas with our families last weekend, so our Christmas was on January 24 instead of December 24 & 25. The flu wiped out our December, so Christmas Day was just the three of us playing with Addie's dollhouse (thanks, Santa!), eating junk food and lounging in pajamas. ..it was pretty magical in reality! We missed our family, but a quiet Christmas at home was kind of nice. In the weeks that followed, we realized that we forgot about the gifts we were planning to give or hoping to receive, but we really missed the celebration with family. I know we all say it's about family while secretly longing for that new iPad / pair of jeans / purse / jacket / etc / etc and I think we all feel a little guilty and worry that materialism is taking over. ..but after living through a December without a big gift exchange, I can tell you that your worry is unfounded. You won't miss the gifts, but you will miss seeing your family.

Fortunately, we were all determined to celebrate Christmas as soon as everyone was reasonably healthy enough to get together. ..fast forward to January 24, and we're all healthy! For the second year in a row, we were blessed to spend Christmas with our families in Greeneville. Mom even managed to keep their Christmas tree alive for an extra month so we would all have a tree for our celebration! **Side note: Our tree lived for 3+ weeks this year!!! A Humphreys' family record!!! Granted, Mom got hers to live for 6 weeks, but her super power is convincing hopeless causes to survive and even thrive for much longer that anyone would expect, so it's really to be expected. I'm in awe since I did NOT inherit that super power. ..or a green thumb!**

Here are a few pics from both of our Christmas's: