Hale Family Tales

What does 9 grandchildren, 3 adult children, 3 spouses, and a Mimi and a Papa equal?

We call it Christmas (or whatever occasion we are celebrating).  It is noisy, it is messy, it is chaotic, it is great….

Here are some pictures from our better-late-than-never Christmas celebration from this past Sunday.  Actually, it works out great to not get together on the exact holiday because we (well, my Mom) aren’t on the hook to cook a huge traditional meal…we usually go out for Pizza King and leave the work to someone else.  Did I mention there are more kids than adults now – we are really outnumbered!

OK – so we bribe them.  We give them their packages and then make them pose for a group shot before they can open them.  Of course, they are on the hook to cooperate and smile nicely.  Believe me, this tactic has taken years to perfect…this crew is hard to get a picture out of.  Who would know.  Aren’t they beautiful?

Sorry they aren’t grouped by family – believe me, had we attempted that there would have been no picture.

Here is Treasure’s very first present.  It is a knick-knack for his/her room and a tiny stuffed lab puppy.  It made him/her seem a little bit more real…

I know I mention all the time how great of a dad Ryan is to his little girls.  He gets that a jewelry box full of plastic jewels would be a hit.

And they were!

At some point the fun had to come to an end!

We begged off early with our friends last night since we are travel weary and our bodies are still on the Eastern time zone. It would have been fun to visit more with everyone, but alas it was great to snuggle into bed on a cold winter night and watch a silly, old movie. Fox News had coverage in Times Square but they ran it on Eastern time zone (11pm here). We watched a bit of the hoopla and fell asleep.

This morning I am happy to have gotten a good nights sleep.

Ellie’s first words of the new year: “Can you get me some milk and some of your favorite cereal?”

Hannah’s first words of 2009: “Good Morning. I don’t feel good.” (nose is red, sounds stuffy….hmmm.)

Happy New Year to you and yours. May God’s rich blessings be revealed to you everyday of this coming year!

It is 9:04 am and both my kids are still in bed.

Actually, Ellie was up very early with a stuffy nose and then went back to bed.

What is that I hear?  It think it is that melodic pitter-patter on the the hardwood floor.  Time to go.

I love evenings. To me, they are the frosting on the cake. I love to sit down to dinner with my family and collectively “catch our breath” after a, hopefully, good and productive day. In warm weather we play outside, go for walks and hang out on the front porch. Winter evenings are spend with Ryan playing guitar, playing games or watching a show together. Ryan and I made a conscious decision several years ago to try to avoid too many evening obligations and rather focus on spending time together as a family.

Last night we played Trouble, which is a fun game that even Ellie can play (and practice her counting skills!). We then tuned into Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? Cute show though we’ve only seen it a couple of times.

Ryan and I were amazed, though, at one of the contestants. His relativism was oozing! He was an icon of this 21st century phenomenon of “feeling truth” rather than “knowing truth”. His first question was about male turtles laying eggs – True or False. He said, “I feel it – it is true!” COME ON! We don’t feel certain truth. We know it. This first grade science question, for example. Another example is the truths that we are given in God’s Word. I don’t want to just feel them, I want to be able to stand on them and know them. That way, when I am blown around by the uncertainty of my own flesh, I at least have a marker to look to and know which way is true north.

There is a quote by Oswald Chambers that has been on my cabinet door for years: “Faith is the deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.”

Sure, I know I can’t always be confident in my choices or of the world around me, but I can be sure of the promise of God’s character. Why? Because the Bible tells me so.

This is Hannah and Maddy playing “thanksgiving” with the Little People Thanksgiving centerpiece. The turkey was being carved as this picture was taken. Everyone was hungry and ready for our feast!

There is a picture somewhere of Ellie and Gabby sharing a piece of bread just like this on Ellie’s first thanksgiving at home. I took this one for posterity, our little models were happy to participate. It is obvious these two ladies have done quite a bit of growing in two years and they have been great friends from the start!

The Hartzell Family: My brother Daren, his wife, Theresa and Makayla who is 7 and Logan who is 5. They are treasures!

The McCallister Clan: My sister, Sharon, her husband, Thad. Andrew will be 13 next week! Nicholas is 10, Madelyn is 7, Gabrielle is 3, and Eli is 8 mo. Seventh Heaven!

And the Hale’s: Hannah is 8 and Ellie is 3.

And one more picture….Dessert! Aunt Theresa is a great cook!

Okay….just one last shot. A big part of what I am so thankful for this year.

Hannah woke up this morning with the count down to our trip to Florida for Christmas.  We will take the girls to Ryan’s parents in Venice, then Ryan and I will be off for a 7-day western caribbean cruise.  I am thankful to take this trip and enjoy spending some time with my husband.  We will have our 13th anniversary after Christmas and probably won’t be getting away again for awhile, especially after Treasure comes home.

My Mom gave me some sound advice a few months ago telling me that if my husband wants to take me on a cruise, I should say yes.  I was wanting to avoid the expense altogether or just take the girls along with us so they wouldn’t miss out on the adventure.

All the details fell into place; Grandma and Grandpa said yes about the girls, the timing is great to coordinate Christmas in Florida with our family, the girls are looking forward to two weeks in the sun at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  The gifts are ready to be shipped to Florida, the stockings and a couple of wreaths are the only decorations coming out of storage, school will wrap up next Friday, and off we will go on our grand adventure.  Every December should be so glorious.

I could pinch myself!

It is a beautiful day in Missouri, but a bit chilly. The kids, and Daddy, were outside playing on the swing set enjoying the sunshine. When the girls came in they were sure they needed hot chocolate (with lots of mini-marshmallows) to warm up. Ellie couldn’t remember what it was called and kept saying “sweet cocoa”.

It must have sufficiently warmed her. She went straight into her room, grabbed some books and settled in for a rest.