1. My cousin Byron and his wife Kate announced they will be welcoming their first little one sometime in August. I am so excited for them to become parents, as they will be amazing. They both dearly love kids and so to have one of their own will be so much fun. I kind of hope they have a boy, although healthy is the biggest thing of course. Byron has always said if he has a boy he wants to name it Blair after my dad, who he never got to meet, but the 2 of them would have had a blast together.
2. Educating my mom as to what Beer Pong is. I know this isn't very Christmas like, but the story behind it is quite amusing. In our family the kids always get to open 1 gift before midnight mass. My brother opened the game Cuponk from my mom and step dad. My brother will be leaving for college in the fall so we were giving her a hard time about encouraging him in beer pong before he even goes to college. For those that don't know what Cuponk is it is a ping pong game. It comes with the cup and 2 balls and cards with different tricks to attempt. If you can complete the trick you get the points on the card. Needless to say my mom learned something she probably wish she hadn't.
On the last day of Christmas I want to remember how excited both of my kids were for all their gifts. Audrey was given a Crayola Glow Station set and as soon as she opened it she said "Look Brother, look what WE got." Then a little later she opened the exact same present and when my grandma told her she could take it back to the store and get something else instead, she said "Or brother can have it so we both have one." With Dart getting older his wish list is getting more expensive so he has learned that he might not get as much as Audrey does since her presents are still fairly inexpensive. He asked for a few video games of course, but one of the things he wanted most was a Jeremy Maclin Eagles jersey. He got to meet Jeremy when he still played for Mizzou and has been a HUGE fan ever since. We were all hunting for the jersey at a reasonable price in our area and not finding one of course. Although I can't understand why in Columbia the only place I could find them was at Dick's Sports where of course they cost a fortune. Then it dawned on me I have a friend in the Philly area. After a quick text or 2 she had a jersey in hand and was shipping it to me. I had told Dart we were having a hard time finding one around here. He had even looked every time we were out shopping. I knew when it came to that package on Christmas morning he was going to be so excited. And I was right. The look on his face was priceless.
I was reminded after these moments that this is what Christmas is all about. For them they are still at the age where getting presents is the big part of Christmas, but at the same time they both know it's also about being with family and those you love and to celebrate Jesus' birthday. Their reactions to their gifts showed me that they do get the real meaning. Audrey so willing to share her presents with her brother and Dart being so appreciative of something like a jersey and later telling me that was the best gift he got just made me smile. It is so much more fun to have kids at Christmas. They are good at showing us the meaning of Christmas in small ways.
