New York - Day 2

Family Ties

The Christmas party was a hit!  The last guests left at 1am and considering I had been up since 3:30am, I was exhausted!  At 10am I dragged myself out of bed and headed to church.  I was looking forward to seeing my old church folks, hearing that amazing choir and listening to an awesome sermon from Pastor Bobby.  So, even through the snow, I headed out.

By the time I got to church it was apparent that the snow was preparing to come down in full force.  And while I did miss the music, I did not miss the word.  As I walked out of service, feeling renewed, I prepared myself for the weather waiting for me.  A fellow worshipper was doing the same as I said “Man, its really coming down out there.”  She just looked at me and said “Yes but I’m not complaining.  Snow lets you know God is real!” 

Snow is coming doooown!

I rolled back home and knew that since my dad was working it was going to be up to lil bro and myself to get some shoveling done.  Unfortunately, I donated and/or packed away most of my heavy duty winter apparel so I ended up wearing size 12 Timbs thanks to lil bro and some fancy leather gloves thanks to my momma.  While it was fun being out there for a little while, I was definitely happy once I was back inside, warm and ready to eat.  Today, I was finally going to see my nephew and nieces for Christmas!  The most heart-warming moments were when little Sophia opened her gift to reveal an old stuffed doggie of mine that she’s adored since she first laid eyes on it.  Phia was so excited!   She paraded around the whole house with it and refused to let it out of her sight.  Then, Jaden opened his gift and exclaimed “Diary of a Wimpy Kid Journal?!  Ohhh I really wanted this!”  Renee was the only stalemate as my Christmas bag and tissue paper did not meet her gift opening requirements that day.  Wrapping papered gifts ruled.  One day though, she’ll see that I passed down a beautiful jewelry box for her to store all her silly bands (or whatever the next million dollar fad is) as well as a stuffed teddy made of our favorite colors (orange = mine and yellow = hers).

Day 2 in New York City felt better than Day 1 as I was able to cuddle with my nephew while watching 60 Minutes and reading bilingual children’s books that I didn’t remember/know we had!  Jaden wanted to spend the night but he was a bit under the weather and it was looking like SNOW-- tons and tons of SNOW was coming our way.  So I promised him I’d stay over the next evening.  His eyes lit up and he left looking forward to tomorrow.  I must admit I was too.  This would be the first time in the 5 years I’ve lived there that I would have a slumber party with the kids upstairs!  And so, the changes continue…