December 2012

I know the title of this post is just ridiculously vague...but at this point, lumping the whole month into one post is the only thing that 1) I have time for and that 2) really makes any sense.  This has been a real whirlwind of a month for our family with lots of ups and lots of downs.

On December 4th, our beloved Pee Paw went home to be with Jesus.  He had developed a case of pneumonia and the doctors were just not able to get it turned around.  He fought it long and hard, but in the end, his body was just worn out.  Words cannot express how much he will be missed.  On December, 14th, Gigi arrived to spend some time here in the desert with our family.  We were so happy to see her after nearly 6 months of being apart, but sad knowing what had brought her to us.  On December 17th, we held a memorial service for PeePaw at the National Cemetery in Phoenix and said goodbye to one amazing, sweet, generous, sparkly, sassy man.

The days since have gone by in a blur.  Gigi and I have been keeping busy with finishing up last minute Christmas shopping, volunteering in Clara's class grading papers, volunteering to help with Clara's class Christmas party and shuttling kiddos to their various activities.  The last day of school for our kids before winter break was Thursday, the 21st.  We have enjoyed the slower pace of life and relaxing and visiting with friends this holiday season.  It is SO good to be back here in the desert this year!  I never thought I'd see another Christmas, Tucson style...but God is good!

We started out our Christmas Eve with a hike through Honeybee Canyon with lots of friends, including our BFFs, the Emch gals and our favoritest EVER pediatrician!

Look at this sweet little heart cactus we found along our trail!

These two are SOOOO happy to be back together again!

Stopping for a rest along the way!  The jackets have been shed!

Three of the sweetest little girls I know!  Hannah, Claire and Clara

Absolutely, hands down, the BEST pediatrician in the universe!  LOVE her!!!

All the mommies and Gigis and doggies too!

A shot of our crew hiking through the canyon.

Our whole crew as we near the finish line!  What an awesome way to start a Christmas Eve morning!!!

After a glorious morning of hiking with our sweet friends,  we headed home and proceeded to prepare for Christmas day.  We had a couple of groceries to be purchased so we could smoke our Christmas Day rib roast, and there were a few gifts left to be wrapped.  We decided to attend the 3:00 pm Christmas Eve service at church.  I should have known we were in trouble when we sat down and the "while you wait" music that was playing was "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".  The service got underway and was a ridiculous blend of very, very bright flashing lights, and very, very, VERY loud  music...NONE of which was either traditional OR beautiful.  There was NO CHRISTMAS STORY in the message and NO SCRIPTURE.  I am STILL angry about this.  Mark my words that the Roberts family will not ever, ever set foot in that church for any form of worship ever again.  Disappointed and sad, and very shocked, we headed home.  I was very much missing our Pensacola, or even our Texas church right about then.  I decided to see if either of them had a live streaming service going on.  LUCKILY, when the window popped up, there was a Christmas Eve service starting in 34 seconds!  Hallelujah!!!  Gigi and I proceeded to put our feet up and have us some REAL church right there!  We enjoyed the candlelight service and the beautiful, beautiful music.  There was scripture after scripture telling the Christmas story and a Christmas message FULL of love and hope and the wonders of the season.  Most importantly, it was full of GOD and JESUS and the very reason for the season.  Something sorely lacking in the message at the other church.  We felt better after having a "real" service!  As expected, the kids were excited and anxious and we could not get dinner cooked and eaten and cleaned up and put away quick enough for them.  They were SO excited about the presents waiting under the tree for them.  I tried to slow it all down and just savor it a bit.  But the kids drew the line at my suggestion for doing a quick scrub of the toilets and grout!  And so...the evening festivities proceeded!  Here are a few snapshots of our evening!

She's READY!!!

Oscar was VERY interested in Gigi's gift!

And soon Cooper was also interested in Gigi's gift opening!  I guess they were hoping there was something in there for them too?!

This was one of our boy's FAVORITE gifts!  The roll of cash!  They had a blast unrolling it!

Ben was delighted with his cash scarf!

And THIS was one of Clara's favorite gifts!  A SUPER cute cowgirl outfit for her American Girl doll!

Later that night, when all the festivities were done and the kids and grandmas and daddies were all tucked into bed, I found THIS under my Christmas tree.  

Have you ever seen anything as sweet and as cute as this?!

OH MY GOODNESS!!!  Killing me with the cuteness and sweetness here.  He is most definitely a pain, but seriously...SOOOOOO sweet!!!!

Before you could say Merry Christmas the night was done.  The gifts were opened, loved, played with, put on, etc.  Everyone was tucked in for some anxious dreaming about whatever Santa MIGHT be bringing for them.  The Christmas tree was all clear and ready for Santa's drop off and the stockings were double checked and declared READY for stuffing.  We barely closed our eyes before we were greeted with sounds of Alvin and the Chipmunks blasting  Christmas Time and the overhead lights were blinding us.  Just the subtle way our sweet little angelic children chose to wake us this year and invite us in to the gift opening.  Sigh.  One year they are going to sleep past 6 a.m.  But this was not the year.  More gift opening commenced.  Here is the morning in review!

I love it when Max smiles like this!

New road biking Jersey for Max!

And a new string bag for Ben with his high school emblem on it.

Clara found a new watch in her stocking!

And a SOCK MONKEY!!!  Man has this girl wanted one of those!

What would Christmas be without a new video game?

One happy boy with his new iPod Touch 5

And an equally overjoyed girl with her own IPod Touch!

Oops!  Looks like Santa dropped off the wrong sized helmet!

All in all, it was a beautiful, beautiful day.  We wrapped up the evening with dinner at our good friend's house, celebrating both Christmas and Jason's birthday!  It was a wonderful, wonderful way to spend a wonderful, wonderful day!  Merry Christmas Ya'll!  And happy new year too!!!!