Snow Angels!

My first Snow Angel experience (courtesy of Billy's fam)....

Tada!!!

Making the most of it :)

So, this was the first Christmas I've ever spent over a webcam!

Christmas Day 2007

As soon as I took this picture, he said "I didn't blink!!!"...lol...

We set the laptop up in our living room, and I'll have to admit it tranformed a potentially sad day away from Billy, into a very funny moment we will never forget!

Our entire fam wore their festive hats, and yelled happy Christmas greetings over the speakerphone of my cell, while waving and laughing at the webcam. My brother Brian and Suzanne (Billy's mom) exchanged a virtual handshake and hug as they were introduced for the first time, and grandma kept talking to Billy's face on my screen, instead of the camera, accidentally stepping out of view many times.

Billy and his parents sat on the other side, laughing, showing us their presents, waving and greeting us back. I have a feeling this will be our new tradition with fam every year!

My crazy man kept me laughing with his goofy faces...

It was certainly a Christmas Day to remember! Oh, and for those who have asked, we haven't exchanged our presents yet...we'll do that when I go there Friday night!

Christmastime

It's been a week of celebration for us!

We had our Annual Open House

and there was plenty of food to go around...

and plenty of presents to go around...

*Princess Courtney*
and *Businessman David*

and Mel's "cup of tea, Lord love you" :)
....plenty of fam and FUTURE fam :)...We broke out the antique phonograph, and cousin Courtney and Lin danced all around the kitchen!

and then, early Christmas Eve morning...

the Sista's headed over for some breakfast and present-time.
I'll have to admit, I've never seen someone so excited about starting a fire (it was with a remote "like the movies!" according to Rachel). Always fun times with those girls around.

Miss Rachel...and her cute accessories...

Miss Lindsey...and her crazy bow around her neck, lol....

For lunch, we had some *family fun* at my cousin Eric's house
Erin decided to drag her "loot" around in a bag strapped to her back.
It was hilarious!

Evan couldn't even stop to look at the camera, as his new hellicopter kept his full attention for a very long time!

Lance and Lalito were mezmorized with their gifts pretty much the rest of the day,
,
and Ethan said he felt very "puffy" in his new jacket.

All in all, they all seemed to enjoy the day playing together....

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

And the celebration continues as my fam heads to Temple tomorrow to see more aunts, uncle's and cousins there.. hopefully I'll have even more pics to post after their trip!

Homesick

Today I had a flashback. Several years ago I was ministering in the Ellis 1 Prison Unit. It was a Christmas service, and I prepared several tracks to sing, including, “I’ll be home for Christmas”. I looked out at the in-mates faces, midway through the song, and saw tears streaming down many of their faces! I felt horrible! Here I was in a locked-down situation with men who have been away from their families for years, and some even decades.

I was singing them a song that most likely would not come true for a long time, if ever.

“I’ll be home for Christmas”...that song never impacted me so much, as it has this Christmas. People ask me how it feels to be in a long-distance relationship. I say, I feel HOMESICK. I can’t explain it any other way. This year, I am the most homesick I’ve ever been during the holidays. My home is not here, my home is in the form of a man many states away.

It’s unbelievable how different my life is now without him around. You never know what you’re missing out on, until you have it and it has to go away (even if only for a little while). The difference between the prisoner's sadness, and my own is that we have a promise from God that we will, in fact, be able to spend forever together, not apart. I know this time apart is God’s plan for us. He is preparing us for what is ahead, and for that I will be grateful and shut up (most of the time) about how sad I am. There are those few times, especially now during the “most wonderful time of the year” however, when I can’t help but be honest about my sadness away from my Love.

I look forward to many, many, many Holiday Seasons with you Billy-boy, and I may not be home for Christmas, but I’ll be there for New Years!

Sweet Potato Pie

A fun pic from our "Christmas in November" party Sean and Alexis hosted while Billy was in town! (He'll be in California, so our Christmas Day will be over my new webcam! :)). They were so thoughtful with their little party favor boxes, and we had soooo much fun, eating at LaMadeleine's and then heading over to the Summerlin home to watch Elf and play a hilarious game of Mad Gab! We will never let Aaron live down his hysterical fingers-in-the-ears- "Sweeee Bo Day Do Bie" moment...it was awesome!