Christmas Morning!

I hope everyone had a great holiday! No matter what you celebrate or believe, I genuinely hope that everyone enjoyed themselves, and spent time with loved ones. I was raised Christian so I celebrate Christmas but it hasn't been until the past few years where the true reason for the season sank in. The past two in particular have stuck out more to me because of everything that happened with my mom. 

Long story short but for those of you who don't know, my mom suffered from a brain aneurysm in May 2013 which resulted in a hemorraghic stroke that affected her entire right side. She was in a coma for about two months and nearly didn't survive multiple times. But God had other plans, and she's with us today! She came home last October and has made amazing progress. She pretty much started from square one with learning to talk, move, walk, eat, regaining her memory back, etc. Little things that I take for granted every day, my mom struggled to do them.  

So each holiday that we get to celebrate together is even more special and a marker reminding me of what God has done for our family. He truly worked miracles in our lives, and I can't even begin to explain all the blessings we have experienced. With that being said, I really wanted to focus on keeping the Christ in Christmas because without Him, my mom wouldn't be alive today to celebrate this season with my family. 

We had a wonderful time this year just focusing on spending time together, and of course celebrating God's gift of Jesus Christ. I wanted to share some of the things we did this week, especially family traditions! I'm going slightly out of order but I'm starting with Christmas morning. 

Keeping with the out of order theme, I wanted to start with my favorite present that I got because it's honestly just so darn precious. The backstory behind this is my mom wrote a poem for both Amanda and I when we graduated. When Amanda got hers, my mom did it in calligraphy. She had some of the most beautiful handwriting that I've ever seen and was forever getting requests to do invitations, cards, etc. She was rushed to do mine, though, since she kept trying to perfect it and never got around to doing the calligraphy for me before she had to give it to me at graduation. So I always told her whenever she asked me what I wanted, that all I wanted was a hand-written version of my graduation poem. Well, she never got around to it because she couldn't find her old calligraphy pens, and we both figured she had all the time in the world to get to it.  

Let me add that I am not an emotional person at all, and I hardly ever cry in front of anyone. Not even my family or close friends. When I opened this present yesterday morning, boy did the waterfalls start! As soon as I saw what it was and knew the time and effort it would take her to write this for me, I just completely lost it. In fact, it's even more special to me than the calligraphy version would have been. My mom was so worried and anxious that I wouldn't like it because she had to write it with her left hand since her right is too stiff, and she doesn't have fine motor usage of it. I was at a loss for words when I saw the poem, and all I could do was cry tears of happiness. 

Broad Horizons

The precious gift of a daughter, 

sweet, loving, and kind, 

a comfort like no other, 

always on my mind. 

Tiny in stature, 

with a great and gentle soul, 

appreciate of nature, 

how blessed to have watch her grow. 

She is a daughter and a sister, 

a granddaughter, and friend, 

with all her friends and family, 

her loyalty knows no end.

Compassionate and friendly, 

sometimes humble and shy, 

she does not see her beauty, 

and how she never fails to try. 

No bounds to her creativity, 

writing stories through brown eyes, 

with lashes to infinity, 

and a mind beyond years wise. 

Not afraid to move forward, 

and make a fresh start,

she glances back at me,

with a warm smile to melt my heart. 

Everyone got in on opening presents, and of course some of the cats had to come and see what all the commotion was going on. 

She did not want to cooperate for Amanda's pictures and I couldn't help but laugh at the faces she was giving me...

We're really good at taking selfies. 

We didn't have to be at my aunt's house until 9:30 for Christmas breakfast so we had some time to kill since I was up before 7:30, my body just can't allow me to sleep in anymore! I made myself some coffee and my new morning ritual has been to have one or two meringues with my coffee. Our family friend gave us some from Trader Joe's, which happen to be my favorite! They're very macro-friendly so I'm able to easily fit them in which is a double bonus. 

I relaxed with my coffee for about an hour with some company! Then, we headed over to my aunt's house for breakfast. We're really fortunate that most of our family is right in town so none of us really have to travel. My aunt is only a block up then a block over, and my grandma is about 7 blocks up the street. It makes things very easy! 

At breakfast, I loaded up for my long run with a couple pieces of bacon, a biscuit, home fries, and part of a cream-cheese blintz. I didn't track anything on Christmas Eve or Christmas day, it was just about balance and enjoying myself! 

After breakfast, Amanda and I went for a nice and easy 8-mile run to just pass the time until Christmas dinner at my grandma's house, and to allow some room for the extra carbs ;) I did the same thing Christmas Eve morning where I ran extra so that I'd be able to get some extra carbs for dinner! I wore my festive running shirt for the occasion and by festive I mean it's the only green running shirt that I have. 

When we got back, we showered, walked Layla, and then headed up to my grandma's house for dinner. I'm working on getting some of the posts up about the traditional meals we have together! 

What are some of your Christmas traditions?