Monday, December 28, 2009

Our Family Christmas



I hope you all enjoyed your Christmases!  I thought I'd share ours with you. We had our family Christmas on Christmas eve as has been the tradition for the past few years and spent  Christmas day with the grandparents. Although our family has had some exceptionally lean Christmases in the past, this year was wonderful in every way.  None of us had expectations as far as gifts go and we were all pretty content, even our sons.  Last year my husband was layed off (he's a carpenter) right before Christmas and it was very disapointing.  We were only able to spend about $100 total.  It was the worst Christmas as far as gift giving goes.  This year, by contrast, ended up being the best that our family has ever had. It's not just the gifts, but it is God's provision for our family that has been a wonder. This year, Brad was layed off again, but they hired him back a few weeks ago and gave him a raise and a Christmas bonus. This enabled us to get some nice gifts without going in to debt and satisfied our computer geeky family very nicely. 




My husband suprised me with an amazing 24" flat screen that rotates!  If he hadn't found it on ebay and saved hundreds of dollars I probably wouldn't have felt right about accepting it, but I also wouldn't have wanted to break my generous husband's heart. I used to have a 17" LCD monitor until it burned out. So since then I've been using an old behemoth of a monitor with a scratched screen.  That made it difficult for writing and also the web and graphic design that I also do.  I needed a new monitor, but this is fabulous!


Horizontal . . .
 


and vertical!





I gave my husband a computer chair so he can now be comfy instead of having to use a hard kitchen chair.






 

We enjoyed our gifts, but mostly were thrilled to see the happy faces of our "boys" on
Christmas -  Brandon (21) and Justin (22). 


Justin got a new 22" monitor to use for gaming and a video card.   He figured out a way to use dual monitors with his old 15" and the new one.  He said he's a good multi-tasker.  He was also very pleased with his new jacket.



 




Brandon was very suprised to get a computer desk and chair.  He couldn't imagine what was in the big box. He had just got off a 15 hour shift at work and was exhausted.  It wasn't long before he crashed on the loveseat.




In our family, Christmas would not be complete without books.  I didn't ask for any this year since I am loaded to the gills with books to read.  My parents are both readers so they each got three.

I had Susan Page Davis autograph 3 copies of her cozy mysteries to my Mom.  The books are set in Maine and my Mom was very excited about them.  We gave Dad some westerns. We also ordered Book Buddies for Mom, Dad, and me that didn't arrive quite in time.  We are all looking forward to them.







I hope you all enjoyed your Christmases celebrating the best Christmas gift of all, Jesus!

14 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you had a great Christmas! Being surprised by gifts is a lot of fun! It's so great when our focus is on the right things and then we're blessed out of our minds!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Carla, I couldn't wait to get back to your blog and now I feel I've spent Christmas with you:) Love the pics and all the great detail!! I know you'll enjoy that new monitor - wonderful for your work and writing! Thank you for such an uplifting post.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That monitor looks amazing! I've never seen one that goes vertical and horizontal. Glad to hear you had a great Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Carla -

    Thank you for sharing your Christmas pictures with us. Quite a handsome crew!

    We spent Christmas with friends up north. There's nothing like happy babies and excited little kids. The youngest was born 12 days before Christmas.

    We had a wonderful time, and we're glad you did too. :)

    Blessings,
    Susan

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love your monitor! I don't know that I've seen one that big before! Glad your Christmas was so wonderful and I must say, you have some good looking boys! Good genes in your family!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh, it all looks so wonderful! I'm so glad you had a blessed time with your family. :-) LOVE your new monitor - wow!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm still having fun getting used to my super-size monitor. It is just wonderful and so helpful!!! I feel very spoiled.

    Thanks for all of your nice comments. I must agree, I have some handsome men! And even though Brandon is all grown up I still love watching him sleep like a baby. He's such a hard worker. They all are, actually. I'm so proud of them.

    It was an extra special Christmas indeed, although I was a bit wilted since my arthritis was flaring up, but I had such a blessed time.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sounds like you guys had a very blessed and wonderful Christmas! I was surprised by a big box that contained my long sought after Wellies! I wore my big old rain boots all day Christmas day (even though there wasn't a rain cloud in sight!).

    Happy Monday!
    Jen

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love your pictures of your family that is why I like facebook, I love to look at my friend's pictures.
    So glad you had a good Christms, we did also, we don't give a lot of gifts amymore. My husband and I stoped that a few years ago, if we want something we just go get it.

    May God bless


    mamat2730(at)charter(dot)net

    ReplyDelete
  10. Whoa! Now THAT'S a monitor. :) Glad to share a bit in your Christmas cheer. What handsome sons you have, btw!

    ReplyDelete
  11. What a lovely family you have, Carla. Thank you for visiting my blog, and leaving such sweet comments. I am tempted to ask that if my book ever gets published, might I use your son Brandon as a cover model? He looks so much like my Civil War twins I almost choked on my pepsi. : )
    That monitor is a thing of beauty! Enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Jen, I had to check to see what Wellies are! Very cool. I can see why you were so excited about them. Maybe I'll have to get myself a pair someday.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Edna, it is nice to share our lives with one another online. It opens up a whole new world of friends. What a blessing!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks Lori, and again everyone else for the nice remarks about my boys. They look like their handsome Dad. Although he could use a bit of a haircut! Ya think? He says it keeps his neck warm when he's working outside.

    Kathleen, you knocked my socks off when you said that about Brandon! I always thought he'd make a good model. He'll be flattered to know he looks like characters in a novel. Deanne Gist has her daughter on one of her covers, and I always thought it would be neat to have my sons on a cover some day.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for visiting Adventures of the Heart. Be sure to check back for my responses to your comments. Be blessed!