Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve! We always go to the Candlelight Service at church at 4:30. It was special this year because our family got to light the advent wreath. Cedric read the text and I did the lighting of the candle, of course I almost knocked the entire wreath off! For those of you that know, I have a bad history when it comes to acolyting! After the service, we headed down to visit with Mamaw Dot. After that, we hit Aunt Janie's for snacks and presents. Everyone got too much as usual! We always go back to mom and dad's last. Dad reads the Christmas scripture out of the Bible and then we all recite The Night Before Christmas (Gaby knew a lot of the words this year!). We have done this tradition for as long as I can remember and it is SO special to me. I just love it and I look forward to it every year. We always seem so snug, safe, and secure when we are all together on Christmas Eve. I love Christmas Eve even more than Christmas Day! Back at home we settled into our pajamas to watch the Christmas Story marathon and hoped that Gaby would settle down...Yeah right! He was still awake after midnight. Around 1:00 he konked out and we were up at 6 a.m. to begin the Christmas Day festivities!!!!!

New Year's Eve

I am finally getting around to doing a new blog, I know, I suck! I have been off all week and just getting things done around the house. All the Christmas decorations are down and put away, except for the tree, which I am going to tackle tomorrow. We got the 2nd mattress for Gabriel's John Deere room, so it is all ready now! I have been working on getting things ready for his birthday party, which is only a little over a week away. I cannot believe he is turning 2 already!!!

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas! We are blessed to have such special families and friends that we shared our holiday with and I promise to post pics soon, I am working on organizing them. Gabriel's favorite gift from Santa has to be his new big boy bike. It is a real bike with training wheels and he has already mastered it!! He loves it!!!!

Happy New Year to all! I will be spending this New Year's Eve at home with Gaby, Ceddy, MeMe and Rocky and I am really looking forward to it!!!!! When I think back to bringing in the New Year in 2000, it was spent very very differently in Boone with my 3 favorite gals...but that will have to wait for another blog :)

Merry Christmas from The Moores!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

Vacation!

As of 5:30 today, I am officially on vacation!!!! The presents are all bought, wrapped, and bowed...the majority of the cooking is done! Just used my new perfect brownie maker from Meme, it worked great!!!!!! Amaya and I finished icing the cookies for Santa and the peanut butter fudge is ready for Uncle Zach! I am watching Christmas movies with the family and working on a bottle of wine with Ceddy! I love this time of the year, especially Christmas eve! I just love the anticipation of Christmas morning!

Dexter

This Monday I got some really bad news from my friend Maryellen. When I got home, I had a message from her to call ASAP, which I knew must mean some sort of bad news. She let me know that one of our former students had passed away. He collapsed in gym at school on Monday and was in the 8th grade. I had him for speech in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade, and he was probably my all-time favorite student. He could bring a smile to my face like no other. He was not the smartest cookie out there, but if you could earn an A for effort, he would have made the A Honor Roll every 9 weeks. He was very good at fixing things and putting things together, and he always helped me out with things like that. I remember once on a Friday ( I had him right at the end of the day) he told me he wished he could come home with me for the weekend. If I could have, I would have taken him, which tells you just how much I liked this kiddo. Cedric got to meet him several times, and they always talked football, for Dexter loved to play football and was pretty darn good at it. We have always talked about him over the years since we moved back here because we think that De'Angelo Williams (the Panthers running back) looks just like a grown-up version of Dexter.

When things like this happen, I really don't know how to make sense of them. Dexter had a hole in his heart that was diagnosed after I taught him, but apparently he had been cleared by the docs to participate in gym class. I truly believe that Dexter was an angel here on earth and I guess the Lord just needed him for something bigger up in Heaven. I had planned on attending his memorial this afternoon, but due to the bad weather (it is already sleeting here and is calling for snow) I will not be able to make it. Dexter, you really made an impression on me and the rest of those who came into contact with you. Your adorable, smiling face will be missed by all who had the privelege of knowing you.

Computers Make Me Crazy!!

Wow, I just got finished hooking up a docking station, big monitor, and monitor stand with my laptop! It took me at least 2 hours and I almost threw my laptop at the wall several times! But it is hooked up now and appears to be working and I must admit, it is nice to look at a big monitor and have a regular keyboard and mouse to work with!! But seriously, why is it all so complicated????????? Oh and I also now have a webcam so if any of you guys are on SKYPE, find me!!!! It is going to be great to communicate by video with friends and family that are far away (think Boston, Vermont, Texas, and even Bunn, which is not that far away but it will be nice to see Baby Tyson live whenever I want)!!! Brianne I know you are already skyping, we need to hook up this week. And Cynthia, go to Wal Mart and get a webcam, they are $18 or so. And Laura, I know you already have a webcam, you just need to go to Skype.com and download! Love and miss you guys!!!!

Tis The Season!

First, let me just say that I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR! The holidays just make me happy, period. I love Christmas lights, Christmas music, Christmas coffee creamer (my personal favorite is peppermint mocha), Christmas shopping, Christmas scented candles, decorating, wrapping presents...ok, do you get the point?? I definitely get swept up in all the Christmas hype, but as a parent, I want to do my best to make sure that Gabriel knows the true meaning of Christmas. We have been reading a book about the birth of baby Jesus and also I have been talking with him about the nativitys that we have at our house. We are planning on going to a live nativity in our town. We did several boxes for Operation Shoebox and I talked with him about them being for little boys that didn't have many toys. Also this year, we will be lighting the advent wreath at church on Christmas Eve. Anyone got any other ideas??