Our Christmas Day.

We started the day with breakfast, eggs and bacon and milk. Then we loaded in the car and passed out gifts to the kids at the Manor. I have to tell you this fun story, it made our day! The manager gave me a list of kids living at the Manor. There were 14 altogether. Our friends from church gave us enough gifts to pass out among the kids. Every kid had at least 4 little gifts and 1 large gift. Neatly wrapped with their names on them. The Millers showed up to help us pass them out. The first room had a little girl and she was over joyed and didn't know what to say. Here's my story:

Cassie and the kids were walking to a room and I saw a family coming home to the Manor with groceries. They had 2 girls. The girls said, "Look mommy, those kids have presents!! Wow!!" They didn't know they were next. I had their gifts in my hands as I walk to their room. Their door was still open as I walked up. I said "are you Maggie and Juana?" They said "yes...." I said, well then these are for you." Their eyes popped out of their heads and jaws dropped. One squealed with glee. The mom said in a broken and humble voice, "what do you say girls?" And 'thank yous' came the scream of happiness. The mom asked what church we were from. She said over and over thank you, you don't know what this means. I could hear the girls yelling, "I can't believe this!!"
Yeah. That alone made my day. I wish you could feel that. I could see us as a church doing this on an even larger scale. To reach out to so many that have so little. On a day that means so much. I'm not meaning this to gloat or brag. But to share with you. The church was involved. We used money left over from the BBQ that the Stirring gave us to finance it. We used stuffed animals from our friend Mary. We used little goodie bags from our friend Christal. The Millers chipped in. We chipped in. Someone from the 10:00 service chipped in with a box full of awesome things.

Next we went up to see Mr. Miller at Mercy. He was rambunctious and eager to get out of there. Not sick and mopey. He'll be back to himself in no time.
Then we went home and open gifts. The kids had a total blast of course.

We ate chex mix.

Family came over. We BBQed tri tip, spinach salad with candied walnuts, sparkling apple mango cider and cookies.

The chickens occupied the coop. The coop is rocking with 4 new chickens. I hope they get along. They are awesome. Reba (the rebel and way small, hardest to catch), ...dude, i totality cant remember their names. Not like to come when you call them. So I will name them teriyaki, spicy, BBQ & country fried.

Then as the evening goes on, my uncle calls and said he has 7 ice chests full of fresh crab. A truck rolled over on I-5 and they were given fresh crab. IT'S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!! So I race out and score 15 large dungeness crab. So we boil them up and eat them, They were hands down the best crab I ever had. As big as dinner plates!

We end the night with Catch Phrase and a stinky house, with tri tip left overs and crab.