Gifts from Afar

 I admit it.

In years past, I have unquestionably been a person who has taken for granted the wonderful friends whom God has given our family.  Those special individuals who provide encouragement to our hearts and feed our souls with laughter and hospitality and care.  Especially when it comes to our children.  But as of late, I have learned to not take those friends for granted.  

This week - perhaps now when we needed a little more Christmas joy than ever - two special boxes were delivered to our home which gently reminded our family how special and rare and wonderful our friends are to us.  We were reassured that true friends are not designated by distance nor terminated over time.

The first package.  Our dear friends Tim and Diana once again "surprised" us (I never cease to be surprised that they continue to show such generosity and thoughtfulness each year) by sending a homemade gingerbread house kit for us to assemble.  The kids love following our tradition of snuggling-up in warmest pajamas and spending an evening glueing and constructing our family gingerbread house.  And here she is...

 The Barnette Family Gingerbread House 2014!!!!

Contrary to when they were little, the kids are now old enough to actually plan how the house would look the best and work strategically to follow a design. Christopher meticulously faced all the M's in the same direction.  John was Mr. Lifesaver, and Anna was Miss Gumdrop.  Tim was the commander of all things icing.  And my favorite part had to be the white sanding sugar, which looks exactly like glittery, fresh-fallen snow when sprinkled over everything at the end.

I'm always tempted to cover the whole house with the colorful candies.  But to be honest, the gingerbread that Diana makes is so beautiful and perfect that I can't bear to cover it up!  So we usually cover the top and roof and bottom with candy and leave the windows and chimney and doors.  Hands-down, though, the best part of having a fresh-baked gingerbread house HAS to be the smell.  The aroma is so scrumptous that we're keeping the house as the centerpiece for our dining room table throughout the New Year.

I always get tickled looking at our gingerbread-house-building pictures, because everyone looks so intense!  When it comes to gingerbread construction, we Barnettes are very serious about our fun.  Ha.

And perhaps because we live in the South, where snow rarely falls, we felt compelled to take all the leftover icing and coat the ground and build snowmen.  No doubt about it.  We're dreaming of a white Christmas.

THANK YOU TIM AND DIANA!!!!

And the second delivery was a care package from our friends Mike and Kathy in Cincinnati.  Mike and Kathy faithfully served as our kids' 'surrogate grandparents' during the years Tim pastored in Ohio, and we still miss them.  "We" includes our dog Prospect, whom Mike and Kathy used to dogsit. When the box arrived, Prospect uncharacteristically sniffed and sniffed it with her beagle super-sense of smell. Tim is quite certain that Prospect was smelling Mike and Kathy's scent on the box, a scent she remembers even after 18 months of being away from them.  Heartwarming, huh?

Somehow, "Grandpa Mike" and "Grandma Kaffy" managed to include a few gifts for the kids that had made it onto the kids' Christmas lists but aren't expected to make it onto Santa's sleigh.  Such a delightful surprise for Christopher, John, and Anna!

Anna was thrilled with her Stuffeez, and she vows to never reveal to her brothers the location of its "7 magical hidden pockets."  Just about everything on Anna's Christmas list year has been at one point been featured in a TV commercial.
Anna Jean is the "As Seen on TV" Queen.  :D

I was delighted that Christopher received the box set of Despicable Me movies, because those are my new favorite movies.  I love those little minions!  And I love Mike and Kathy, who have neither forgotten our family nor ceased in their generosity and thoughtfulness toward our kids.

THANK YOU MIKE AND KATHY!!!

And that is how Christmas joy was delivered to our house this week. 

Twice. 

I must kindly disagree with the Grinch.  Just this once. 

Perhaps...sometimes... Christmas does come with tags.

Perhaps...sometimes... Christmas does come in packages, boxes and bags.

--Kara

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,

All losses are restored and sorrows end.

-William Shakespeare