Christmas 2009!

WOW! What a difference a year makes! I vividly remember last Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It was a nightmare and one I don't believe I will ever forget! Christmas Eve was wrought with finding a bunch of bed bugs and staying up into the wee hours of the morning catching them and then Christmas morning we awoke to find one of the horrid creatures crawling away from me on our bed - very obvious that it had just had its Christmas feast on either me or Daniel - or both! It was horrible! I now sit here in my beautiful new living room with the Christmas tree lit and beautifully decorated and the stockings hung on the stair banister. Such a contrast to last year - where the walls were gutted and there were no decorations for Christmas. I am SO THANKFUL that a year can make such a difference. I am so grateful for all that God has given us and brought us through. As I look back on the past year I have learned so many lessons and have truly grown to appreciate life without bed bugs. They just took so much away from us - namely time with our children and a ton of time from my husband as he worked relentlessly on getting rid of the bugs and renovating the house to try to protect us from further infestation. It has made us appreciate our time with our children and has helped us to look forward to getting back to a somewhat normal life - playing with our children and getting into a routine where Andy isn't ALWAYS doing something on the house! It will be so nice!

Today was a great day! It was fun to hear Matt and Sarah explain to Daniel the "rules" to Christmas day in our house! We had to remember that he was two the last time we had a traditional Schultz Christmas. Our main rule is that I go downstairs first and light the tree and make everything pretty and get the camera ready to snap pictures. Daniel thought this was ridiculous - but Matt and Sarah have been doing it this way for 10 and 12 years and insisted we continue! He complied! We also each open a gift one at a time and look to see what the other has gotten instead of a mad gift opening.

Daniel loving his new "blue" automoblox - he loves these cars!

The kids can then see what the each has gotten and ooh and ahh over them - Sarah does a really good job with this and really encourages Daniel in appreciating what he got! They all had a great morning and got way too much - but they each loved what they got.

Matt's new ripstick - Andy's idea - so not mine! Pray he doesn't break anything!

They will be busy for days investigating their new toys and playing with everything!

Sarah enjoying her new Anne of Green Gables Series! My favorite when I was her age!

We went to my mom's for dinner tonight and had a great meal of ham, ziti, asparagus, and my favorite 24 hour shredded roast beef! I ate way to mu ch and the baby has been protesting his lack of room! It was great to see my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Ray, grandmom Ruth, Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Doug, and my cousin Mike and his three girls! There were a lot of kids running around! It was a great time together with family.

I pray you all had a wonderful Christmas Day. I have loved this day and have really focused my attention on just how thankful I am to God for his indescribable gift - His Son - and all the trials He has brought me through this past year. He is so good - even in the bad times! Praise God!