Christmas 2007

Wow, how the times change. Just a few short years ago Kedra and I would have been up trying to hold the kids off while we prepared the family room for the mad dash to see what Santa brought to our four kids. When Lester and Luke were younger they would often wake us up during the 4 o’ clock hour. Good, precious, blessed memories!

Today it is almost 7 a.m. No one else is up; Lester is not here. I am blogging on Christmas morning. I’m ok with all that, though I am fighting a tinge of sadness. The possible sadness is quickly overcome by the present joy.

Lester is getting married in August (the 9th), so Christmas customs have changed, which is fine. We had our usual great meal last night. Kedra makes the best fried chicken I’ve ever eaten. The blessed bird is surrounded by all the things that bring it even more glory.

Following our meal we exchanged all of our gifts last night. We usually do some on Christmas eve and then some on Christmas morning, but Lester went to be with Maddie’s family last night. He will celebrate Christmas with them this morning and then return this afternoon to the large gathering at my parents.

Yesterday the boys and I went our annual Christmas eve road trip. We usually spend 3-4 hours driving around in the country. This year we chose western Lawrence and eastern Martin county.

We were looking for and found Padanaram. Here are some links that describe a little about it.

Little History

Interesting Message Board

Brief Description and Stats

Interesting place.

The last place we stopped was at the fire tower in Martin State Forest. We climbed about half way up as the sun was setting. It was a very nice way to end one of my favorite afternoons of the entire year. I love my 3 sons and the time that I spend with them. [I love Rebecca dearly as well, but I don’t think she would “get” the driving around in the country thing.]

Today will be an unusual Christmas. We’ll do the usual gathering this afternoon, but this morning we all have to finish packing for the trip to Oz and NZ. We leave at 2 a.m. in the morning. We fly out of Indy at 6 to Chicago. Then about 8 we leave for Honolulu, an 8-9 hour flight. We'll overnight there and then leave early the next morning for Sydney, a 10+ hour flight. I'll do my best to post somewhere along the way...


The other night we all gathered in the family room to watch It’s a Wonderful Life. Would you think less of me if I told you that I had never watched this movie before? Ha ha. Well, I hadn’t. I really enjoyed watching it. It has a powerful message. I think of its message on this day, the day the world celebrates Christ’s birth. What would have happened if he had not come to us? Think about that for a little while and then thank God that he did come. Emmanuel.