The X Files

Christopher has been obsessed with Minecraft for a few years now.  And that's fine as long as I can exert some control over him.  It came in handy when he was having a hard time at church.  All it took was losing his Minecraft privileges for a day because he was naughty at church and he's pretty much been good at church ever since.  (Yes I let him play on Sundays.  I pick my battles.)

And that was all fine and good.  He was content to play on the kids' computer upstairs in the loft or on an ipad, until we went to Texas for Thanksgiving.  There he was able to play minecraft on a giant screen via an xbox (and it apparently is totally cooler than the regular old computer version).

So he began his quest.  He needed an xbox.  He decided that playing on the 62 inch TV in the family room was much better than a computer screen.

I disagreed.  I was not interested in being in the same room with minecraft all the live long day (the kitchen and the family room are considered "great room") .  Plus he played enough, and I had a hard enough time getting him off the computer, I knew if I gave him a new source, he'd never get off. (Yes, I'm the grown up, but I mentioned picking my battles, right?)

So, Christopher asked.  He begged.  He put it on his Christmas wish list, and his birthday wish list. He tried saving up his own money, but when he realized that was going to be painstakingly slow, even though he did extra chores to earn extra money, he resorted to MAKING HIS OWN.  (I ball parked the price of an xbox at $300 to give him something to shoot for when he was trying to earn it the old fashioned way.) We had a good conversation about how we do not write on money.

Even when the TV died, and the only available TV to hook up an xbox to was a much smaller TV in my room, he still wasn't deterred.

He even asked Santa.  "Santa" was actually his scout master, and also happens to have a day job at the company I work for.  "Santa" and I had a good talk about it afterwards, (along the lines of "You told my kid he would get an Xbox?!?!?"  "I just said that we would see... It's a very popular item." "You can't be vague with Christopher! To him, any answer that isn't a 'no' is a 'yes!'")

Enter our fairy godmother.

It's no secret to anyone who knows us that it's been a rough year. And things could continue to get worse for awhile now.  I'm not going to go into details here, because this is neither the time nor the place, but in a nutshell, it's been a rough year. And just as bad as things have been, on the opposite side of things, we've been very blessed with wonderful friends and family, who have jumped in to show us just how much we are loved.

Overwhelming.  That's a good word for it.  Overwhelming.  I've almost cried as many tears from gratitude as I have from sorrow.

From the little things, to the grand gestures.  Like John's sister wanting to make sure that Christmas was a good one for my kids.   The grandparents were also extra generous, and wanted to make sure the kids still had a good Christmas.  It is just a fact of life that some years Christmases are humbler than in other years, and that's life, and that's ok, good even,  but sometimes you have an aunt who is a real life fairy godmother and pretty much makes it the best Christmas ever.

I mentioned that for our birthdays (and Christmas too) Corrine would be taking Maddie and I to Jamaica?

Well, Christopher finally got his Xbox (and yes, he has taken over my room) and Zach even got a Chrome book.  Like I said, Best. Christmas. Ever.