Family

Its the Christmas season and its been crazy. My brother and his wife are way out in Portland Oregon (and stuck there due to snow) and I miss them. They've had a rough Christmas due to inclement weather and just the annoyances of life.

My wife and I have had to deal with a furnace going out ($305), a drain backing up and flooding our basement floor ($190 and counting), getting the house in order and a myraid of home repairs I'd been putting off. Those NEVER go as planned.

Then you have Christmas Eve where we rushed out to Tremont to go with my parents to see my Grandpa Schurter. Had lunch there, rushed back to Tremont to go with my Grandpa Stuber to pick up the seafood platter and then back to Pekin to wrap gifts to take to Tremont to exchange with my mom's side of the family.

Also my sister-in-law Andrea and her boyfriend Mike are staying with us and are wonderful houseguests, but its still a bit crazy having extra bodies around.

So Christmas with the Stubers, then back home to relax and watch a movie. Then Christmas day with Katrina's family and all the excitement that entails.

It was a crazy 2 days of Christmas. But you know what? It was great getting to spend it with family.

The love and joy at family members seeing each other who hadn't for awhile. At my young cousins who both have battled a life-threatening genetic disorder and the joy at them making it through another year and staying healthy. It was wonderful.

Christ brought hope to a lost world when He was born. The joy brought about celebrating his birth should remind us all of Him, and lead us to give thanks.