Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time!

At first, I didn't expect much for this Christmas--but I was wrong. ;-)

I found it hard to sleep the night before Christmas, so finally at 5am, I decided to do my quiet time and just stay and wait until everyone wakes up. Soon, everyone was awake; it was Christmas morning. We opened the window to see that the snow from yesterday's snowstorm had stayed on the ground--it was a white Christmas!

Then, it was time to open presents! We did our stockings first, then went under the tree. I already knew what two of the three presents had been (one of them had a nutrition label on it), and the third present was a clock that could make various sounds to put me to sleep. I was a little let down considering I had put "No Candy" on my Christmas list, and I got three boxes of chocolate. But it was okay. I already told myself that Christmas is not all about presents, and that spending time with family and celebrating Jesus was enough. So I decided not to hope for that one thing.

Then my dad told me to put his jacket in the closet.

I opened the door to find an enormous present, wrapped, with a small bow in the middle. "Are you serious?" I whispered to myself. The present was large and long. Was it the one thing? What else could it be??!!

A Gibson Les Paul guitar. Classic.

The same guitar that Slash from Guns and Roses plays; that's what my guitar teacher said.

I couldn't believe it--my own Les Paul. It was the most incredible surprise ever!

After opening presents, we headed to IHOP for their holiday pancakes: Pecan Pie, Gingerbread, and Pumpkin (from left to right, in the photo below).

After breakfast, we took a short nap (and I played my Les Paul!). Then, we went to my grandma's house for lunch...and even more surprises:
We stayed until dinner, hanging out and playing Wii. We also did our gift card exchange (and it looks like our family will be eating out a lot the next few weeks). :-P

I think God was teaching me what Christmas is all about first. Then when I learned, I ended up being blessed at the end. Extremely.

I would have to say, this was the best Christmas ever. :-)