We made it through Christmas

Holy cow!  Whew!  Humongous sigh of relief!  We made it through the Christmas season.  For all of you who don't work retail, the Christmas season starts the day after Halloween, accelerates on Black Friday, becomes manic the week before the big day, and culminates with returns and additional purchasing the week between Christmas and New Year's Day.
I just worked my 4th Christmas at Barnes & Noble.  I am very grateful to work at a place like Barnes & Noble instead of a place like Wal-mart.  Call me crazy, but although we have a few eccentric people and a few crazies, we have a pretty decent customer base.  I only had a couple of angry people.  One lady came in on the 21st and wanted several children's books that we were sold out of.  2 of them were backordered at the publisher and she was angry because she couldn't have them before Christmas.  My advice (in my head only) was to not wait until the last minute to shop for Christmas.  "Lack of planning on your part doesn't constitute an emergency on mine."  The other one called in and asked if we were open on Christmas Day and asked how late we were open on Christmas Eve.  I told her we were open until 6:00 on Christmas Eve and closed on Christmas Day.  She responded by telling me that Christmas was a religious holiday and religion had no place in businesses.  I responded out loud by saying, "Actually ma'am, it's a federal holiday and 1 of 3 we, as a business, observe.  In my head I responded by thinking "You're right it is a religious holiday celebrated long before our country was founded on Judeo-Christian morals, ethics, and principles.  Get over it."  She hung up on me.  I truly believe it was the same lady who called me last year and complained.  2 out of several thousand isn't bad.
Outside of work we had a pretty good holiday season.  We were able to spend 1 more Christmas party with Nathan's Grandpa Nixon on December 4th before he passed away on December 21st.  It was a huge blessing to be able to spend that time with him and also to say goodbye to him the day before he passed.  We spent Christmas Eve with the McClure clan and spent Christmas Day with the Piper crew.  On Christmas Eve we went to church where I played and sang in the service.  The 7:00 service had the Christmas pageant which was a huge and adorable success.  Those kids did a great job.  Aedan and Ariana laughed and enjoyed to service.  We came home and I went back for the 9:00 service which was a traditional candlelit service.  Beautiful and elegant.  We had a huge turkey dinner with all of Nathan's family.  His mom, dad and brother made a photo collage of his parents.  Baby pictures, their wedding photo, and more recent photos of both of them.  It is really cool.  The kids really enjoyed playing with his grandparents.  I will also add that my best friend, Diana was a godsend.  Not only did she bring additional food, but she helped me cook and clean up, helped organize the family and then came to church with all of us to help with our kids while I was singing.  She is amazing.
On Christmas Day our children were surprised by Santa and Ariana loves opening presents.  They are both more fun because they like to play with everything and try on everything before opening the next present.  Their excitement is tangible and contagious.  We went to my parents house and spent a peaceful day watching Christmas movies, playing pool, and playing cards.  My mom is an awesome cook and made a rack of ribs for Christmas dinner.  Yum.  Our only disappointment was that we were not able to see my brother and his family or my sister and hers.
On Tuesday the 27th, we buried Nathan's grandpa.  He was buried with full policeman's rites and honor guard after a 19 year battle with cancer.  While difficult, it is good to know that such a good man no longer has to suffer.  He was funny and courageous and that became more apparent during his life sketch and from both speakers.
Nathan's good news is that he has accepted a job.  He will be traveling with this job for a while and it may cause us to move later this summer, but he has found a job.  He leaves for training on January 15th and will be gone for 3 weeks.  He will come home for a week and then head out again.  He is still looking for a decent paying job here but so far, there isn't much.  After a long year of praying and searching, not to mention school, it looks like we are going to be blessed with a job in the new year.  John will head back to school and then start the process of transitioning to the regular high school at the semester.  Aedan will be heading back to school with stitches (he tripped in the kitchen and split his eyebrow open on the counter) and Ariana is going to have a hard time adjusting to Aedan and John being gone, but overall, I think we have had a blessed, if bittersweet, holiday season.  We are looking forward to the new year with enthusiasm and faith.