Christmas with the Craigs. Sounds like a Lifetime movie doesn't it? Well, this was my first Christmas AS a Craig WITH the Craigs. Which meant that this was my first Christmas away from the Schexniders & Levins. Which meant this was the 1st time in 30 years I wouldn't spend Christmas Eve celebrating MawMaw's birthday and this was the 1st time in my 30 years that I wouldn't spend Christmas Day with my Mother Therese. I did pretty well. Knowing that Rodney Lynn made it home (which was literally a Christmas miracle), I felt better that my mom wouldn't be all alone. Even though I wasn't home in TX, I still had a WONDERFUL Christmas with my new family. Christmas is always so much more fun when kids are involved and our newphew Houston and our niece Kinley definitely made Christmas more special this year.
This is Houston. He belongs to Todd's middle brother, Sean and his wife Kristen. He's two and SO SO smart. Talks in full sentences. He's not only cute, he's funny too.
This year we all pulled names and it was suppose to be a Secret Santa that ended up not being so Secret (Marcus!). I got a new COACH bag from my Not So Secret Santa Marcus (but I really think it came from his wife Lisa). Somebody must have known that I absolutely LOVE Coach bags!
Sean got a remote control helicopter from his Not So Secret Santa Lisa (or was it Marcus?) Unfortunately it didn't last long. I think it was broken within a few hours.
It was a great & busy Christmas with the Craigs! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas like we did. I leave you with a little song from our buddy Houston.
This past Sunday I had a Christmas party for my little Sunday school girls. They came to my house after church for pizza & cookie decorating. We then went to a local nursing home and handed out cookies and sang Christmas carols! The old folks (or "elderly" as one mother corrected me) loved it! When I asked how one woman how she was doing, she said "Much better now that you're here". I don't know if I have ever been to a nursing home in my life? I can't remember. I guess I wasn't anticipating how sad it might be. I was so glad the girls got a chance to minister and love on these people! Here are a few pictures (thanks to my sweet husband who allowed Santa to deliver my Canon T2i early and thanks to my friend Nat who showed me how to get the pictures to look bigger).
I challenged all the kids to talk to the people in the home. Sit down with them, ask them questions, be the hands and feet of Christ. And thats exactly what they did.
What I wasn't anticipating was that they may get carried away with being Jesus' hands and feet and offer to push old ladies down the hall in their wheel chairs. I couldn't tell if this woman was having fun or really nervous?
During church I had asked the girls why they thought they were going to the nursing home. One of the little girls answered "Because its better to give than to receieve". Right on! I was so proud of that answer. If you're like me, these past few weeks have been insane. Seems like the to-do lists just continue to grow and life doesn't slow down. I encourage you to give the best gift of all- your time- to family, friends and even strangers this Christmas season. Because as the girls learned on Sunday, it really is better to give than receive (Acts 20:35)!
I hope everyone has a wonderful & Merry Christmas!
Candice
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These pictures literally make me laugh so hard that I almost pee my pants! If you know me, then you know I have a crazy Mother Therese! You also know that I FREAKIN LOVE MY MOTHER! She's way too happy and I swear she takes happy pills (even though she denies it). You can't be around this woman without laughing. Its impossible.
So last night, my crazy mama dressed up as Mrs. Claus for a Christmas production at Cathedral in the Pines in Beaumont, TX. She sent me these photos and they make me smile!
Only in Texas, does Santa and Mrs. Claus ride in on a gator!
Gotta love her!
Thanks mom for the laugh! You were a GREAT Mrs. Claus! Love you BIG BIG like the world, Candice
Tonight, Todd & I had our little Christmas together. We started off with prayer and praised God for all the many blessings and all the answered prayers this year. Then he opened his gift, a new High Sierra duffel bag. He loved it!
Next, it was my turn. I was very excited because I knew what was going to be in that box- a new Canon T2i camera!! I couldn't wait. Been dreaming about this things for weeks.
To my surprise, there was a picture of my camera with a note that said "COMING SOON". You can tell by the look on my face, I wasn't too happy.
But if I looked harder at the piece of paper, there was a clue written in tiny print. This was the beginning of "The Hunt". Apparently, "the hunt" is a Craig tradition where you are given clues and cannot get your big gift until you figure out all the clues. So the hunt began. Some of the clues were easy. "Fair weather _ _ _", "_ _ _ the flame", "Todd is a big _ _ _ of Taco Bell". You guessed it the next clue was in the fan.
"Meat me here!" - At first I thought it was in our refrig. NOPE!
If not there, then it had to be our new freezer with all our Spurger meat in it! Yep!
"I'm the most popular Christmas song of any around and I live somewhere near you but I can't make a sound". I had a harder time with this one. Todd had to actually give me the name of the song- Jingle Bells. Surely it wouldn't be the decorative bells on our front porch??? Yep!
"If you are wise and if you are nimble, drum up the next clue in some kind of cymbal"- Todd's RockBand drum set!
"The night Todd proposed, what was the 'code name' for that evening?" You would think I could have gotten this one but I was stumped for a bit. Oh yea, OPERATION TEX JOY- Must be in the pantry??
"It's tempting to toss me aside on the floor but instead I should go here when I'm needed no more. From here I'm escorted to a circular thing where I'm tossed and I'm turned until fresh like spring". Background: Todd likes to throw his clothes on the floor. I like them to go in the laundry basket. Must be our laundry basket!
But I couldn't find anything.
Until I opened up the laundry basket and saw a wrapped present!
Could it be my camera????!!! Yes, indeed! Finally found it and can't wait to use it.
Pretty clever my husband of mine! Hope everyone enjoys family traditions this Christmas season!!
My only sister, Nichole, is the mountains of Arkansas today exchanging vows with my new brother-in-law, Scott McDonald. They just called my mom and she got to pray with them over the phone.
This is a real quick blog entry just to say I LOVE MY HUSBAND. We've had a busy weekend.
He hung outdoor Christmas lights yesterday (at my request this year). Of course we picked the day that it was below freezing and SNOWING to put the lights out. His fingers took about 5 hours to thaw but he did it anyways because he knew it would make him happy.
We also got a REAL Christmas tree this year. Todd hasn't put up a tree in years so we broke that habit and got a real Frazier Fur. We had a Christmas party for Todd's co-workers last night so after we thawed out, we got dressed up and went to the party.
Every weekend in the Craig households ends with serving at church. This is how I found Todd in the parking lot this morning. Freezing his butt off (again) directing traffic. Gotta love this dude! He makes me smile.
