Christmas Eve

The candlelight service on Christmas Eve is my favorite time to be in church. 

Sausage balls, loaded baked potato soup, and peanut butter blossoms make for one of my favorite meals. 

Watching the Cowboy game in the afternoon and praying for a win is a tradition as old as I am young. Finding Dak’s jersey wet and drying in the bathroom might be a new twist on an old tradition. When I asked what happened, Evan replied, “We baptized Dak and cleansed him of all those interceptions. Now we got a clean slate for next year.”

Decorating sugar cookies for Santa means Keagan tries to make the ugliest cookie and the biggest mess, Evan cares just about eating them, and Wes and I are the only ones attempting to make a pretty cookie.

Traditions. Merry Christmas Eve. 

Christmas Family Fun Day

Evan and I spent our morning serving meals to the low income and homeless in our city. It was a very rewarding day; even Evan commented that he didn’t mind the day (as long as he didn’t have to clear dirty place settings and empty plates of food.) Once our shift was completed, we started our family fun day.

Few places are more beautiful at Christmas than the Gaylord. The poinsettias. The lights. The waterfalls. The decorations. All perfect!

We wrapped up our late afternoon with German food and Radlers. The only thing missing was our extended family.

Christmas Break

I don’t think I have ever had to go to work on December 21, but I did this year. The boys were out a full week before I got to sleep in past 5:00. Today Evan and I volunteered at the local Christmas event for low income families. We were tasked to put up a tree for tomorrow’s party. This is about the worst thing they could have asked us to do.

First, we don’t care to put up our own Christmas tree, much less a tree in no fewer than 100 pieces with some archaic hook and hang system for the branches. It took three tries just to get it the center pole right. To make for an even more fun morning, the supervisor was caring for five grandchildren under the age of five. There was screaming, crying, empty threats, and chaos. It had me dreaming of the Jose Cuervo in the cabinet and Evan wishing he was old enough to drink.

But we did it! Two and a half hours later, we had a tree with no lights, silver tinsel, a golden angel, and black and white ornaments. It was hardly a beauty.

Evan left the building mumbling, “The things white boys have to do to get into college.”

Victory is Sweet!

Unlike Evan’s basketball team, Keagan’s team hasn’t won one district game. The poor kid loves basketball and can’t even find a team that can win. It never fails, though. At the beginning of each game, even on crutches when he couldn’t play and had every reason to be mad at the world, Keagan rallies the boys. He gives the pep talk and says the pre-game prayer.

We were not hopeful with a win tonight. In fact, at the end of the first quarter we only had one bucket and I told a fellow parent, I would be happy with a score in the double digits. At half we were down by thirteen and, again, I was just hoping for us to be able to leave our home court with an ounce of pride. I was praying we wouldn’t lose by more than twenty.

But then a Christmas miracle happened. We came from behind in the third quarter and tied the game. With two minutes left in the game, we actually had a five point lead. When the buzzer went off, we were tied. This took us into three minutes of OT. Surprisingly, we left with the win! 41-38! 

My #14 did not play in any of the OT, but he took his role of encourager seriously. He was the first off the bench at time outs and the first to cheer when someone else scored. He also did his fair share of sideline coaching. Sometimes, your team wins and your role on the team is to be on the bench. Tonight was a great example of how you can contribute to a team’s win by sitting on the bench.

We now have two full weeks off and we will lose the momentum that would have followed us after tonight’s win. I’m hoping Keagan will be the sixth man needed in January to see to another win!

Together Again

This rag-tag group are all from Clarksville, and two years ago they played soccer together. However, they eventually parted and went their separate ways playing for various clubs in Nashville. Lucky for us, they are back together this winter playing indoor. 

Friday night they had their first game. Our boys arrived in mix-matched colors while the other team arrived in matching uniforms and tucked in jerseys. They thought they had it in the bag when they saw our boys walk in. Nothing could be more deceiving. Our boys won 40-4. 

Keagan reported that after 7 goals the parents stopped cheering. At 15 goals, they stopped clapping. At 25 goals, our parents got up and left. Goals scored with heel flicks made us look like Golden Boot winners; Keagan’s 14 goals made him look like Messi. The other parents just stared in disbelief! Keagan said it was nothing short of spectacular. 

I’m anxiously awaiting our first tourney in January!

St. Nicholas Day

St. Nicholas was delayed this year - something about a delay in finding xl soccer pants even though I placed my order as early as October 27. He arrived just as soon as UPS was able to make it to our house. The boys didn’t seem to mind. They would probably forget if I didn’t say anything about it. However, the boots just don’t hold adult size sweatshirts and the boys associate shoes with sweat, so we skipped the traditional boots.

Keagan’s Spurs sweatshirt was deemed “fire” and carried “heat.” I think this means he will keep it and not burn it. 

Evan dumped all of his candy in his backpack and said it was all gone by second period. I want to say sorry to his morning teachers.

Eighteen days until Santa arrives and twenty days until  I’m on a jet plane to the Caribbean!

Teaching a Teen to Drive

I have seen many friends post pictures of their kids learning to drive. I always thought that was too far away for me to worry about. I filed it away as a future parenting task that I needn’t worry with now. Afterall, in our state your child must be 15 to take the wheel. Then it hit me! My boy IS 15 and he needs to learn to drive NOW! After basketball practice, I let him take the wheel through the neighborhood.

It was the most stressful ten minutes of my life. When a young child ran from his garage into the driveway, just as we approached the house, Evan said the event caused him to suffer PTSD. I guess I wasn’t the only one stressed.

I can’t believe I was 13 when I drove for the first time -  and on a hilly, two lane road at that! After today, I really feel drivers ed is in our future.