Christmas at the Burge House

First, I'd like to say that I personally feel extremely blessed by receiving "Secret Santa" bags in my front yard in the middle of the month. I still do not know who Secret Santa is, but there were two huge bags, one was full of clothes for the boys/shoes for Saria/dresses and the other had presents that were wrapped for each of the kids. I have never received anything like this before, and it really made me feel the spirit to know that someone cared enough about our family to do that for us. I hope whoever it was knows that I am eternally grateful for it!!

On Christmas Eve we found out that Brad had to work the next day...so we were trying to figure out how to go about having our Christmas.. and we decided to just get up really early and do our Christmas together before he had to go to work. So we planned to get up at five A.M., make breakfast, and then wake up the kids...(I personally have learned to never plan anything and just go with the flow, and I'm ok with that..)So FOUR A.M. rolls around and Samuel wakes me up coughing, I give him a drink and send him back to bed but of course I can't fall back asleep so I get up and make us all breakfast:hashbrowns, eggs, bacon, and sausage. After Breakfast is all made (including Orange Juice for the drink) we wake up the kids. Benjamin tells us he wants to go back to sleep which we think is rather cute.


Well, we get them up after a few minutes of coaxing, and we tell Ben to go eat his breakfast...thinking that he'd totally see the presents "Santa" got for him because they're pretty visible from the route to the kitchen.. but he totally missed it...and when he finally did see, he was super excited and happy!! :)


Then it was Sam's turn to find out what HE got, and let me just tell you...he was less than thrilled to get a Star Wars Bicycle.. he WANTED a bike, but he "doesn't like Star Wars" Not the kind of reaction I expected at all, and really dampened my spirits...

but luckily Saria was super superrrr excited to get her Justin Bieber Doll and that helped my mood :)

After Breakfast, we opened up the rest of our presents and then we took a nap for about an hour because Brad went to work...(he was gone pretty much until we went to Grandma's house that night to do Christmas over there.

My Favorite Christmas Song

Growing up, we had a lot of cassette tapes with Christmas Songs on them, and I had a handful (as a child) that were my absolute favorite songs, including All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth (giggle), Up On The Rooftop, Jingle Bells, and Little Drummer Boy. I honestly find it amazing that, as a child Little Drummer Boy was on that list at all. Today as I pulled into the driveway coming home from the gym, the version of Little Drummer Boy sung by Bob Seger (who is the version I remember growing up with) came on on the radio. I was deeply touched because for whatever reason, I haven't heard this song in years sung by him, I didn't even know WHO it was that sung it until I looked across the stereo and it told me, and it really brought back a flood of memories of Christmases long ago, and I honestly had a Uncle Scrooge moment. I realize that growing up, I may not have had the BEST childhood, but it wasn't all that bad. My parents loved me, and they took care of me, they helped me to grow, and they tried their best to guide me onto the right walks of life. I know I've made mistakes along the way, but I also know that the reality of the situation is that LIFE IS WONDERFUL, LIFE CAN BE HAPPY!!, and I know that... even though we may STILL not agree on certain things, and our lifestyles now are COMPLETELY different from one another (as far as my family goes, which is what I'm talking about anyway, but just clarifying :P) we have reached the point where we are more understanding, and more accepting, and in the past few months I have absolutely grown closer to the family I spent all those Christmases with growing up. I can honestly say I miss them, and that occasionally my heart breaks for them because they're soo far away from me. Anyway, before I get too mushy, I just hope everyone that actually took the time to read this understands how important family is. I know that Christmas essentially is the celebration of Christ's Birth, and I am a big believer (even if my voice IS small), but it doesn't matter who, or what you believe in...everyone can LOVE THEIR FAMILY extra hard this Christmas. IMO the greatest gift you could ever give another person be it mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, child, friend.. etc is your time, your smile, your understanding, your LOVE. I LOVE all of you and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas regardless of how you celebrate, or what you do :) XOXO