Beer & Champagne: the imPERFECT Christmas.....

hello, hello....again!! And Merry Christmas (belated) to all the Beer and Champagne readers. I don't know about the rest of you, but Beer and myself had a wonderful Christmas, almost a perfect Christmas if you will. I keep thinking that one of these years, Santa will get the memo that I usually error on the side of naughty rather than nice, but lucky for me, 2012 was not the year....and Santa was more than good to both of us. And before you criticize the title of my post let me explain our imPERFECT Christmas.....

Now I'm not one to really shove religion down a person's throat, but I was in church quite a bit over the Christmas holiday and heard a really great message on Christmas Day. The summary of the message was that so often we want things to be perfect, or we have visions of the perfect Christmas, birthday, celebration, etc and many times our visions or expectations are not the reality of what actually happens and this is due to our imperfections as people. Our Pastor gave the example of how Mary rode on a donkey all the way to Bethlehem while in Labor to deliver a baby....baby Jesus at that. The thought being, Mary probably didn't envision riding on a donkey while in labor and it certainly was not the perfect scenario but in the end she was granted a wonderful blessing, baby Jesus.....I thought about this lesson a lot and applied it to our Christmas holiday and found some similarities....minus the whole childbirth thing and birthing someone that many people consider a Savior, but similarities nonetheless...just hear me out!!

The Christmas holiday vacation began with a run in with winter storm Draco. This silly storm ended up delaying me a day and a half due to road closures and lots of snow and ice. The blessing being, I made it home safe and was still able to spend 4 great days with family and friends.

This time of year is hectic for my people as their business operates on a calendar year, rather than a fiscal year so their year end of business happens right in the thick of the holiday madness....The blessing being we are so grateful in this economy, that the business continues to thrive and do so well.

Andy I spent much of this holiday season apart as he was finishing up his gig in Chicago and I was busy getting settled at my new gig in Denver, not ideal for either of us....The blessing being, on the Friday before Christmas we found out he could come back to Denver for good. We are both thankful for great jobs and opportunities and for the time to be together again.

Sometimes when you add people to families, you add personalities which can make for more thoughts, opinions, comments, etc, which isn't always bad, but can create tension if you're not careful. I'm proud to report that our family can all be in the same place for multiple days and have fun with each other....The blessing being, we have wonderful families who are filled with love and support. We are thankful for that, especially as we embark on 2013, the year of the wedding(s) (we have 8 weddings this next year including ours....thankful, but CRAZY!!).

This was also the first year AK and I split holidays, meaning we spent Thanksgiving with his family and Christmas with my family. Both holidays were a little hard for both of us respectively as we missed our own families very much....The blessing being, we are so lucky to both have families that want us around and moms who create an environment at home that is so welcoming and inviting!!!

With the delay in my arrival, I had to cancel some fun holiday plans such as visiting friends, wedding appointments, and shopping (DUH!!), which was a total bummer because this time of year at home is when I get to see a lot of people that I only see once a year.....The blessing being, we are BEYOND thankful and grateful for all our friends and feel so blessed that we have so many wonderful people to keep in touch with. And this is where I get to plug Christmas Cards.....I LOVE receiving holiday mail from all our loved ones all over the country!! Makes my heart happy!!

So anyways, you get the picture. Sometimes things are not always perfect, but there is always a blessing if you look hard enough. Even with all our imperfections, I cannot tell you what a wonderful Christmas this was. I loved every minute of it.....we ate too much good food, we drank a few too many drinks over fine conversation, and we spent quality time with people I love so much. We laughed a ton and even exercised a little. We even found time for a little snowmobiling and sledding. When I sit back and think of the memories created and fun stories told, I am able to smile and giggle to myself, because it really was a PERFECT Christmas!! We are so lucky and so blessed. What a fantastic way to wind down 2012, and welcome 2013.
I hope all the same for everyone else and while I'm at it, I wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous new year....2013, here we come!!!!

Please enjoy a recap of our Iowa Christmas!!!