Merry Christmas Everyone!!! ... Er, Wait a Minute

Huntsville Botanical Gardens ... Lily Loved the Lights! It was fun taking Austin back again too.

Don't you just love the Christmas season!! We really love to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Oh, Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year. So peaceful, quiet, and comforting! The Father, family, friends, food, fun, football ... the six 'F's. Not good grades, but certainly good stuff this season! Did I mention food? Oops, isn't there another holiday that involves food? Did we miss one? Now, let me see. Oh yea, the 4th of July. Yea, that's it. Cookouts, barbeque, swimming, etc. No, wait, that's not it. Memorial Day, yea that's it. Swimming, cookouts, ... no, wait a minute. That's not it either. Hmmm.

Let's try another approach. January (New Year's Day), what is it? Black eyed peas and frog legs for good luck? No, that's not it. Just thank God for the start of another good year. February...President's Day? Naw, not much food there? But we can always be thankful for our Presidents, current and past, as well as future. Some really great men have lead this wonderful country. March ... stumped. Thankful it's beginning to warm up. April ... Good Friday and Easter! Yea! Awesome days of the year to remember that our Lord is indeed risen and the tomb is empty!!! Thank God for that! We don't eat much on that day though. May ... already mentioned Memorial Day ... what a wonderful time to stop and thank God for our fallen soldiers, may God grant them serenity in His comforting presence for eternity.

Let's see now, June ... stumped again. Thankful for the occasional breeze to cool things off. Moving on, July ... the 4th of July. Already mentioned. What a great time to stop and thank God for our amazing country. If you've never left it for any length of time, you may not be able to understand how much you long to be home when you're away from the good ol' USA! August ... hmm. I know. Our anniversary. Connie and I were married on August 25th, 1984. We did have a lot of food that day, but didn't eat much. Mostly I'm thankful God allowed me to marry such a beautiful, sweet, loving person (stop it, I'm not in the doghouse ... at least I don't think I am).

September ... Oh yea, Labor Day. That's it. We had lots of wonderful friends over and we had lots of food. Yea, that's the one I'm thinking of. We are so thankful for friends, those we've known over the years and those the Lord has only recently blessed us with. Yea, that's the ticket. Or is it? Let's keep trying. October ... Halloween. All manner of gremlins and goblins came over to our house for some free candy. I'm thankful we had some to give them ... or else! But that's not it. Let's see, where are we now? Oh yea, November ... ding, ding, ding ... That's it! I knew there was one that had lot's to do with food. Thanksgiving!! Wow, how did I miss that? So, before Christmas gets here, here's what happened on Thanksgiving, Lily's first and our first with both my Mom and Connie's Mom preparing feasts too big for a small army.

As I mentioned, we had Thanksgiving dinner at both my mother's and Connie's mother's houses this year. Mom just moved here, so it was great to finally get to spend some time at her house on Thanksgiving. Billy cooked the turkey and it was great, but Mom made everything else and it was wonderful. Lily Grace ate as much as any of us, once she woke up and came over. She was especially fond of the dessert (or was that on another holiday?). Then, we rolled off the couch and went to Memaw's for a third and fourth helping. I got to carve the turkey. For some reason, I've become the expert at this chore and get to do it every year. The food was great and Lily Grace and Austin both filled their bellies again! Lily really likes bread. She get's that from Austin and me.

It's always a difficult task to begin listing everything that you're thankful for, because there are so many things to say. You don't want to leave anything out, but sometime this century, you have to finish the post. So here's an abbreviated list of things the Greens are thankful for this year.

1) An Awesome God, Who is More Powerful and More Loving to Us Each and Every Day
2) A great family and the love shared with each other, including our extended family in China
3) Our parents, brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews
4) Great friends from all walks of life, new friends, old friends, ...
5) Brothers and Sisters in Christ
6) The privilege to live in a wonderful country, free to worship the one, true God
7) Answered Prayers and Even Unanswered Prayers

There are so many things to be thankful for, that we have to spread them out through the year, but when Thanksgiving comes along, we can roll them all out at once and celebrate over a feast cooked by Memaw and Granny (we're thankful for that too!)

BTW, I forgot to mention. We are also thankful for a sister who remembered to bring a camera to our first Thanksgiving with Granny in recent memory. Without Donna, we wouldn't be able to show you the pictures below.

And finally, if that weren't enough. We are thankful for our other daughters, Amanda and Emily, and Amanda's boyfriend Will who came over Saturday after Thanksgiving and cooked us a traditional Thanksgiving meal of Lasagna! Thanks Amanda and Emily! They also helped us put together our Christmas tree - Merry Christmas!

Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace,
Green, Party of Four
Austin on the #9 Fairway at Canebrake. He loves this game ... I just drive the cart. He played all afternoon.