GIFT

Christmas is great. I love to get up and celebrate with Shaina...who is apparently not accustomed to getting up early on Christmas morning. Every year I get up and excitedly urge her to get out of bed...which always goes poorly.

This year, we were both exhausted and slept until 8. I got up...Shaina was still disinterested. So I called my family using "the bird" this ridiculous ornament from our family that plugs in and chirps. It has been a nemesis for all who sleep. And I made sure that I had possession of it. It has been used at 3 or 4 in the morning...It has been hidden in closets and plugged in with extension cords. It has been used for phone calls at odd hours. This year was anti-climactic with an 8 a.m. call.

Now for the Christmas gifts.

Shaina got me a new Approach Wedge (which will serve as both my pitching wedge and sand wedge.) She also got me some Red Shoes which are amazing!

We then went for a delicious brunch at Shaina's parents and I got four commentaries to add to my set I'm building on as well as a 24 pack of Mountain Dew and an iTunes gift card (thanks Alicia).

Then my family came over for Christmas Dinner and all the kiddos scored an abundance of presents and we did our name exchange and my brother in law got me a new basketball, some new golf balls and a gift card to Old Navy. The night ended with my mom giving my sisters and I pillows that she made out of my dad's old shirts. It was a very meaningful end to the night.

It is easy to get excited about being blessed and thought of by others. What I've found though, is that I've gotten more excited about giving gifts than getting them. I got Shaina some kitchen gadgets and then I surprised her with a new earring and neckalace set that had some pretty big sentimental value. When we were in Kenya, Leah, a woman on the staff over there for Empower snuck her earrings into Shaina's camera bag right before we left. It was a very meaningful gift as Leah had very little of her own. Unfortunately at some point on the trip home, one of the earrings disappeared. So I had a friend from church look at it and she knew someone who was able to handcraft two matching pieces to be earrings and put the lone earring on a neckalace.

Remember we are blessed to be blessings...so enjoy gifts given to you, but be willing and attentive to bless others with your abundance.

What gifts did you give or receive?