The night before Christmas

Christmas is highly anticipated in my book. I can't believe this is Xmas eve. Yes, i say xmas, because X is greek for Christ. not because I'm lazy. i am lazy but in this case i'm accounted for.
i've been taping up my xmas cards from friends on my door so that i can admire them. i've been wrapping gifts, listening to my holiday cds, preparing my annual Christmas eve breakfast casserole to be eaten at breakfast tomorrow, and anticipating the day. i LOVE giving presents, and i can't wait until tomorrow. gift giving is my love language, and although i didn't have excess funds to spend on Christmas, i gave from the heart.
this week has been long. i did lots of scheduling for Lagniappe, lots of home time. kate went to day care a few days but not too many because she's been sick all week. i was in attendance at her Christmas program on thursday, along with andy, and we had a great time laughing at all the kids. the culmination for me was probably when one of kate's classmates puked at the table. i thought, what in the hell am i doing putting kate in day care! but she hasn't had the virus....yet.
friday i went to friend susan's xmas party, and had a great time visiting, meeting new people, and sipping champagne.
saturday morning was spent with a family from hattiesburg that adopted a friend of mine for Christmas. they brought her some presents, we ate pizza, and had a good time. in the afternoon we went to diamondhead to a swanky party at friend lisa's house. she always throws a good party. saturday evening was spent preparing Christmas carols to sing at church on sunday, and cleaning the house.
sunday morning came too quickly-i didn't sleep very well because i was coughing, and i woke up to find andy very sick and kate asleep. we had planned a fun morning at waffle house and then to church for the caroling, spending some time at home this afternoon, and then family meal at home tonight. God had other plans. andy stayed home from church, kate was too sick to go so he volunteered to take care of her, so i went to church to figure out the music situation. 8:30 i arrive at church. 9 am we decide i'm okay enough to play guitar. 9:10 am we download xmas carols and practice-the guitar playing is not that great. 9:15 word is a good guitar player is on his way. 9:20 i practice guitar because the downloaded tunes are too cheesy. 9:25 experienced guitar player daniel walks in. 9:28 we iron out the song. 9:31 we are going. the songs went well, the sermon was great. ( find it at www.lagniappechurch.com) came home to my family at 11:10. andy was asleep on the couch; kate was asleep on the living room floor-this was the first time i'd ever seen her asleep outside of her bed. she looked all crumpled on the floor. but i think she learned how to do this in day care. she was happy.
she woke up later, we played, then she took another 4 hour nap. she must not be feeling well to sleep this much.
andy did some last minute shopping, against my advice, and tonight we cleaned up kate's wagon for her. we did find some time in the night where she was in a good mood and snapped some shots of her around the tree. i dressed her up in her little white dress, and tried to get some good pics. this was impressive since she cried 75% of the day today.
she crashed about 630. i was tired, too.
so back to the wagon. we shopped, we budgeted, we looked around, we googled, we wanted the perfect wagon for kate. we couldn't agree; andy wanted a metal radio flyer, i wanted a plastic radio flyer. on again off again. we finally just forgot about it. then one day, andy was keeping kate at his office for me while i had a meeting, and when i came back, he was pushing kate in a dirty green wagon. i was like, whoa that is exactly the wagon i imagined for kate. he had borrowed it from the habitat for humanity office to pacify her. they told him he could have it.
oh wow. we brought it home, cleaned it up, and it's like brand new. story on the wagon is, it washed up in a habitat worker's yard during the storm, and they used it to haul stuff. they were done hauling stuff, and they wanted to give the wagon away. what a weird but wonderful story. i know kate is going to love the wagon. we packed it full of stockings, dolls, and parked it under the tree tonight with a big red bow on top. this wagon is just a picture of what God has done for us-He has met our every need, He knows our every need. He knows before we asked. He knew that when Hurricane Katrina occurred, that He could wash that wagon into someone's yard, and then eventually it would end up with Kate. isn't that amazing?
it really blows my mind.
i'm really thankful tonight for baby Jesus being born in a manger a long time ago-that Mary took care of Him, that Mary had the guts to put her baby in a bed of hay because she had nothing else. i know i'd freak out-but i'm glad Mary didn't. I'm glad she obeyed God and did what He said...and He brought shepherds to her, and wise men, and they were in awe. Baby Jesus was in the little bed of hay, just sleeping, and when the cows mooed, He didn't even complain. Mary and Joseph were right there, watching out, wondering what was going on. How amazing. And God's plan for that little boy was death-He gave His only son up on the cross to love someone like me because i'm a sinner.
what a plan. i needed a hospital, a doctor, an anesthesioligist, a bag packed, a husband, a phone call list, nurses, etc when i had a baby. Mary was awesome-she didn't need all this. I remember her tonight.