Christmas Recap – Part 3

We finally made it home… well, almost. After a week of traveling, we made it within an hour of home. We stopped to spend a few days with my sister, Ginny, her husband, John Michael, and my super cute nephew, Tillman. Who my kids will forever call Baby Tut Tut.

Baby Tut Tut had gotten so much bigger than the last time we saw him! He is walking now… and tackling… and running… and wrestling… and babbling very important nonsense words that he really wants us to understand. He is 90 miles an hour of pure joy!

My mom was in heaven having us all there in her house together. She cooked every day, played with the kids from sun up to sun down, caught up with all of us, and was such a great hostess. Staying at her house is always fun, but it is exponentially fun when the whole family is there.

This was our second Christmas without my dad and, though it wasn’t the same – it will never be the same -, we certainly filled our hearts with joy.

That’s what family does, isn’t it? It pours all the gifts of the spirit into your heart until you are brimming with love, light, laughter, and joy. And good family can fill your heart, whether they are here with you or not. I think that’s why this Christmas was a little easier. I know the goodness that my dad poured into my heart while he was here with us, and I know that it stays with me. So when we are all together and my family is filling my heart with all these blessings, my dad is part of that. I feel him there with us in every kind word, every movie night, every lazy morning, and in every laugh we share.

My cup runneth over this Christmas.

But my heart runneth over every single day.