A New Year

This is the last entry for which the date will end with “06”. It has been a great year full of good times. Yesterday we returned home from all our Christmas travels, and we plan to bring in the new year with times of prayer and sleep! I guess we’re getting old when “seeing in the new year” is no longer high on our priority list. Oh well. We have many things on our plate for the near future, so we plan to mainly spend today in special prayer. If we do stay up a bit past our normal bedtime, we may play some of the fun new games or watch one of the great videos that we received for Christmas. (Among other videos, Hubby’s dad got us season 1 of The Waltons on DVD. He said my blogging reminded him of John-boy’s writing in the program.  We watched the first episode last night and really enjoyed it. The acting and sets may not be as convincing as some shows today, but it was so refreshing to watch a show that reinforces the values we believe in and desire for our family to emulate.)

The time with family this year was wonderful. When we got together with my family, we loved spending time with everyone. I love that no matter how different our lives are, we can still get together and are still family. For me the highlight of the get-together with my family was that Dad re-instated the Christmas tradition that I have previously written about. On Christmas morning when the whole family was gathered, before we opened gifts, mom & dad took out a nativity set that was child-friendly. (It’s actually one I made them a few years ago!) We took turns reading portions of the Christmas story and singing carols. When it came time to place the baby Jesus in the manger, my sister’s two youngest boys each took a turn doing so. Seeing my nephews’ faces, especially the six year old’s face, reminded me of the awe this service inspired in me when I was little. Hubby and I had tried to do a similar service with just the three in our family, but had not timed things well, and it didn’t go as planned. It was so nice to experience it on Christmas with all my immediate family, my grandma, uncle, and nephews.

Christmas with my husband’s family was also great. Every little detail was attended to so that it was a fun time of fellowship for us all. The longer I am a part of his family, the more they become less “his” family and more “our” family. This has been especially true since our son was born. I’m so glad. It’s great to have two wonderful families! For the family readers of my blog (most of my audience) thanks! I love you all!

Christmas with hubby’s family was a little different this year, because on the day that we celebrated Christmas with the little ones (the adults exchanged gifts the night before), hubby had an interview for a job in that area. He was offered the job, which we were pretty sure he would be, and asked to start that day. Of course that would be way too quick, so he gave a later start date, but also said he wanted time to think, pray, and discuss it before actually officially accepting the position. Thus- our need to pray in the new year. Now that we own a house, moving is a bigger deal. I was probably more withdrawn than normal, but there is just so much to think through.

As I look at the year ahead, I planned for my new year’s resolution to be to go through every room of the house purging “stuff” that we no longer use and getting organized. I am a packrat by nature and have perfectionist tendencies so that I want it to be all or nothing. I still want to do that, but am not sure how that will fit in with some of the other things happening in our lives. I hope that even if I can’t do it all, I can at least do a good bit of organizing and making our lives more efficient so that I can spend more time doing things I want and less time looking for stuff. We’ll see. Above all, I hope that 2007 will be a time to grow closer to my savior, Jesus Christ, and to grow closer to the family that God has given me – my husband and son, my family and the families they have made, and the family God gave me through my marriage to my husband.