“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. ’tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” Mark Twain

Xmas With the Shers

This post is part of Patty Wysong's 
 A to Z meme. This week's letter is "X."

A to Z blog hop at Patterings. Guessing I won't be the only person to use this particular word for this particular letter :) (And just in case you're curious - the abbreviation is NOT a way to take Christ out of Christmas - see this explanation of its origins)
Our Christmas season starts the weekend after Thanksgiving, when we put up the tree (I, naturally, forgot to take pictures of most of the process, but do have one). We've had the same artificial tree since the hubby and I got saved in '99 (though we MAY have not gotten it until 2000. Not positive!).
My son helped put it up :)
I also display a couple nativity sets, a Christmas clock (plays a different Christmas tune every hour on the hour), Christmas placemats, and probably a couple other small things I've forgotten about (and, of course, neglected to take pictures of).

Our actual celebration begins on Christmas eve, when we go to my husband's brother's family's home about an hour and a half away by car and celebrate with his side of the family. Always lots of fun and fellowship with them. We then hop to Marc's folks' home and spend the night.
The few pix I took came out bad. This one is the best of them.
We head home Christmas day and have our own family Christmas when we get home. This year was especially fun, because we got my daughter a fun, unexpected, and VERY MUCH DESIRED gift. My son liked his stuff too :) (But he's nearly a teenager - you know how THAT is, right? ;))
But first - MY parents bought both of the kids laptops. Were they EVER excited! Up until now, they had been sharing one pretty-low-end machine. Now they each have nice shiny new ones! They love 'em- thanks Grandma and Grandpa Weiner!
They LOVE their computers!
Okay - back to my daughter. For almost a year now, she has had an interest in unicycles.  She had never ridden one, but kept asking about them. We never really gave her any encouragement one way or another (and we even let her birthday slip by - four weeks exactly before Christmas - without getting her one, or even mentioning it). But for Christmas, we gave her QUITE the surprise - and was she ever happy!
Love that look of pure delight on her face!

She immediately started playing and trying it out, and was clearly having a blast as she did. She was hardly off it the rest of the day (in fact, scroll up and check out the picture of both my kids on their computers. How do you like her chair??).

I have no doubt she'll be an expert in no time (and even if she isn't, she will have LOTS of fun with it!).

Overall, it was a wonderful Christmas. (And, just FYI, we took down all the decorations on Monday, December 30 - we generally do it around that time)

How Was Your Christmas?
 
My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer. Psalm 45:1
Read more X posts below, or add your own! 

 

18 comments:

  1. Fun fun fun! A unicycle? I wouldn't even know where to start learning how to ride it! I'm sure there are zillions of YouTube videos. Thanks for the peek into your Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Me neither - gotta get that girl on YouTube, eh? And you're welcome - and thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  2. Wow- those are awesome gifts! Sounds like you all had a good holiday. Happy new year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Happy New Year to you, too, Barb! Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  3. I always wanted to try one of those cycles! Fun!!! Glad you had a really nice Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Terri. It really was a good one :D

      Delete
  4. What a great smile starter! Thanks for sharing. :) Love the story.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Jane. Annika kinda liked it too ;).

      Delete
  5. Happy New Year!
    We took our tree down way to early. It made me sad but the lights all went out and the cats had absconded with most of the ornaments.
    Blessings,
    Diana

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cats and Christmas trees are ALWAYS an interesting combination, aren't they? LOL Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  6. That unicycle is soooo cool!! Can't wait to hear she's mastered it! =]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She LOVES it - adore watching her try. Gotta find us some YouTube video lessons, I think :)

      Delete
  7. It looks like your daughter has a spirit of adventure. Love that she chose something so special to her AND that she has parents cool enough to comply! Thanks for sharing the fun :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome. I had my doubts about how smart it was to get her one after I'd already bought it - but the look on her face when she saw it ripped those away. Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  8. What an awesome gift!!!! So clever of her to learn in the hallway! Also I never thought of using Xmas! Very clever of you! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She is VERY clever (Got my work cut out for me LOL). And she's loving it. Will be a whiz in no time!

      Delete
  9. What original kids you have. I don't know that I'd have ever thought about asking for a unicycle! FUN!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know I never would have. Original is a good word :)

      Thanks for stopping by@

      Delete

Thanks for stopping by. I would love to hear your thoughts - please share them!

My One Word: 2016 and 2017

Most who know me know I am a very goal-oriented person (in fact, I already shared my goal wrap-up for 2016 and my new ones for 2017 on this...