Can you believe Christmas is over? I’m still in shock! We had a wonderful, cozy Christmas with family—big Christmas Eve dinner at our house, singing carols around the tree, funny white elephant gift exchanges, the magic in Blaze’s eyes when he woke up with a red kiss on his cheek from Santa, Pascaline crossing the items off her wish list as she opened each present…but the best was coming downstairs Christmas morning to find that Rosie, our Golden Retriever, had got into all our fresh cookies and cakes and had a feast! 🙂
I’ll try and post up some more favorite moments later. We are taking some time to breathe before a crazy January hits us. But I wanted you to know I have been sitting by the tree and reviewing every single SOAR! Video Entry—making notes for each one. I’m so inspired by your courage, honesty, passion and fearlessness. It has been amazing to watch each one of you present yourself in your video and be able to know who you are a little better. I have less than 50 Video entries to go. The panel of judges will start reviewing this week!
Before we fully move on from Christmas, does anyone have any funny Christmas stories to share from this year? Can you beat Rosie running for her life when Brian realized there were only crumbs left?! Yep, nothing like a sweet, cozy Christmas morning—husband trying to grab the dog, dog running for her life, cat snickering behind the couch, and kids holding each other in sheer terror. 🙂 How about yours?!
p.s. A handful of SOAR! videos would not open. So thank goodness for Brian’s IT background. He has been trouble shooting the format, so that the videos will play online. If you haven’t seen your video, we never forgot about you. Quite the opposite actually. 🙂 Should be all done today!
Thank you for your continued hard work. I have been more than inspired by the empowerment you have created in all of us.
I am so happy to hear you had a great Christmas, and hope you have as wonderful a New Year.
I have no particularly comical story from our Christmas, but it was calm and rejuvenating.
HAPPPPPPY New Year!
So glad you had a wonderful christmas, ours was pretty special this year. We live in Texas and it rarely snows, much less on christmas, but this year we had a very white christmas, it was beautiful and we had a blast running out in the snow and taking a few pictures.
Thanks for all your hard work, I can’t believe you have been taking notes on each video and that you only have 50 left! Wow, you are amazing! Looking forward to this new year!!
Happy Monday!
YAY for Christmas! We had a Crazy wind storm here in Houston and then some awesome cool weather..much needed after the 74 degrees on Tuesday! MY lil AJ had the best 1st real Christmas this year but got a little freaked out about a potty book we bought her. Just trying to get her use to the potty and the sounds it makes and lets say she threw the book accorss the room. It might be a long road to potty training and was the most funny moment watching her try to undserstand the nosies coming form her book!
SOAR! has been amazing not just getting the courage to stand in front of a camera but the reletionships I have made with some of the other woman. Thanks for all your hard work and most importantly THANKS for the reletionships you help build in my life!!!
Merry Christmas, Me Ra! And happy New Year!
I don’t have a funny Christmas story but because it’s my birthday I always get a variety of comments (as I’m sure your mother has gotten). So I created a top ten list that I posted as my Facebook status and I want to share it with you. Actually, I posted this in the comments from your previous entry, but then I figured it would be better here. And tell your mom happy b-day for me!
Top Ten Reasons Why a Christmas Birthday Rocks:
1. Never had to go to school on my birthday.
2. Never have to go to work on my birthday—and not burn a vacation day!
3. People always make a big deal out of it, as if I planned it that way.
4. I never get sick of hearing, “Oh, you’re a Christmas baby!” when I give my birth date to someone.
5. Twice the presents as a kid. (No, I didn’t get slighted. I was the baby in the family.)
6. I (usually) get away without having the “Happy Birthday” song sung to me.
7. I get to pick from two days to get my free meal from the Tidewater. (This is a nice seafood restaurant in Charleston, WV that gives you a free meal on your birthday. Since they’re closed on Christmas, I can pick the day before or the day after.)
8. The house is always decorated with a beautiful tree and lights, and wonderful food smells fill the air.
9. For some strange reason, I never meet other Christmas babies.
10. Hello? It’s Jesus’ birthday, which makes me special. 🙂
The One Negative about Having a Christmas Birthday:
1. I’m sick of people saying, “That must suck.” It’s all in your attitude people. And again, if I share Jesus’ birthday, I MUST be special!
Well I have a funny take on an incident with my son….
Nothing breaks up a Christmas party like a head wound.
With five boys running around it was bound to happen. My son hit his head on the stair railing. I look and his face is smeared with blood. I don’t know if I just don’t freak out when things happen anymore or if if was the two glasses of wine. But by the time we had him cleaned up the party was breaking up.
oh and you know we are all going to be wondering what you are writing about us now…
Hi. Hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday.
My son just turned three. I guess we talked about the naughty list to much because on Christmas Eve he yells from his crib, I don’t want any presents, I’m on the naughty list and I don’t want to go to sleep! Ten minutes later he was sound asleep.
merry christmas to you and yours!
i just wanted to give a bit of feedback about the new site- i’m not sure if anyone else has this problem, but the font of the posts is really hard to read. i have to highlight the text in order to see it better. i can read the comments very easily, but the actual posts are difficult.
i only say this, because i love reading your blog. if i’m the only one having this problem, i’ll find a way to cope! :o)
hey mera….so glad you guys had a great christmas! it is such a magical/stressful/super fun time. right? 🙂 santa brought us a new puppy….i’m sure sharon will have pictures up soon. “princess leia” (the name the kids decided on) is going to fit in just great. 🙂 we had a great christmas too….full of busyness and hi-jinx for sure. seriously. happy viewing…reviewing….viewing…reviewing! 🙂
We had our annual family Christmas talent show! You would have loved it! Dave sang a RAP song (!?!?!?), Jade a skit, Izzy did a guitar lip sync, Lily taught us all to draw Mickey Mouse, Ty ran REALLY fast, Emme slept (this is sure talent in our family) and I composed an impromptu song based on words drawn from a hat. Everyone should do this! Oh, and there are pictures…
My favorite Christmas memory this year was driving down our street with my six year old… You see we didn’t put up outside lights this year- it was sooo cold!! I didn’t realize that Elizabeth was bothered by it, until this drive:) She has a very serious, dry sense of humor… So we’re driving along and she was cheerfully commenting on lighted houses when she cheerfully says,”Look that house looks just like ours…” and without skipping a beat she turns serious and says, “… not a speck of lights on it.” Maybe you have to know my daughter to find this funny but I cracked up and when I told my husband he just about died laughing. Needless to say daddy got out some outdoor decorations and the two of them put up the nativity scene. She was satisfied:)
Sounds like you and your family had a wonderful Christmas. I hope the dog didn’t get sick from eating those cookies.
We had a wonderful cozy Christmas at home. I think the highlight of the day was me and Dad having a major Nerf Gun fight in the kitchen. My son ws a brave soul and risked his life to get into the line of fire to retrieve Nerf Darts for me. Wish I had pictures to share but its hard to shoot my Canon (camera) while shooting the Nerf Vulcan!
I too, thank you for all of the time and effort you are putting into these SOAR. I can’t believe you are watching them ALL yourself…I told my husband “MeRa is actually watching MY video!” Your sacrifice and excitement in helping women make their dreams come true is inspiring.
We had a delightful Christmas. We were touched to see thatt the kids really had fun and were so appreciative of their gifts even though they were quite modest this year. Our funniest moment was when our 10 year old son was surprised by finding a game for his handheld in his box of socks and underwear! he almost missed it because it was used and therefore had no packaging…when he found it, he rolled on the florr laughing so heartily and freely that it was beautiful and contagious,
Is it bad that i’ve reviewed the videos enough to know that the video on your screen in the above picture is from the “Just add Color” lady with her chalkboard checklist? Too bad I can’t read your notes… Ha!
I told Crissie the other day that being a part of this application process is a lot like being pregnant. Up days, down days, mood swings, boughts with the can-I-really-do-this demon, even a few tears for good measure! It’s crazy but I haven’t felt this alive over something in awhile. I’ve stepped out of my box more in the last month than I can even believe. Thank you for that. I never knew I could be this courageous over something.
I am wishing you a very happy new year and much peace in the selection of your scholarship recipients. Knowing the kind of heart you have, I can bet that you will be wrestling with a desire to mentor and give to all of us. Just know that you already have given each of us something precious and you can only bestow three scholarships and a year’s worth of learning to all the followers. The rest is up to us.
Blessings to you and Brian!
Well, I guess on the bright side your dog saved you from all the calories in those cookies and cake. My daughter thought our dog needed a present under the tree so she wrapped a couple of new toys and put it with all the other gifts under the tree. Within a few minutes our little poodle mix was sitting by that present in the back of the tree barking and pulling at the bag. We couldn’t believe he found HIS present among all the ones there. Maybe the toys had a smell, but he went nuts sticking his whole face in the bag for his toys. Crazy dog!
Thanks to you and Brian for your commitment to this SOAR project especially through the holidays that are so precious to a family.
Happy New Year!
Oh, one more thing, I loooved the red kiss on the cheek from Santa. That is a new idea I have not heard. I will have to steal it and share it with my mom’s group I meet with. Too cute!
not so much a funny Christmas story on the day but in planning yes, we moved to our new aptment back in may and I had the Christmas tree bags in our living room closet, I could not wait to set everything up end of October I took out all the bags and our Christmas ornaments ready to dress the tree with my boys when I realized the top of the tree was missing as well as the bottom, oh no so I thought, when my husband got home I told him the sad news and he immediately said no i will fix it, we could do something with it so he took one of my tripod bottoms and hooked it up to the tree so you really could not tell then we were left with out a top, we decorated the tree and sought after a top replacement and nothing worked so we stayed with the tree that looked like the grinch bit its head off for this year and have better plans for next. On Christmas eve, Lucas my 5 year old sang in the church choir and I was so impressed, he melted my heart then quiet dinner and open 1 present on Christmas day for the boys. Buzz Lightyear stuff~ only 1 since we celebrated both their birthdats on the 23rd with a chipmunk movie party, was a blast, glad to see you are on your war narrowing down the videos!
thanks again Mera
We have had quite the Christmas here in the midwest – snowed in at my parents house with at least a foot of snow. My boyfriend had to catch a flight out of Omaha, NE yesterday evening…. The only way we were able to get there was to climb into my dad’s big John Deere tractor (there were 5 of us) drive through snow drifts, and some of our friends fields to get to a very gracious friends house and borrow her car to take him to the airport! We have had quite the time, playing games, sledding and telling stories. I don’t think I’ve been pulled behind a three-wheeler ATV in a sled since I was a kid:-)
Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!
That was a funny story!
PS
who won in the other two contests?
Nice, warm Christmas in Florida. Our funny Christmas story: My husband signed one of the gift tags “from Rudolph,” on a package for our 6-yr-old. The minute she saw that, she exclaimed, “Rudolph IS REAL!” He captured her glee on video, so we can revisit this moment for years to come…maybe when she’s getting ready for her first date?
Happy New Year!
My almost 2 year old daughter was taking her nap in a pak n’ play after our Christmas brunch at my parent’s house. Well, we thought she was napping. She had climbed out turned on a laptop, wrote a document (just like this aaaaaawwwwwwwdddd), smashed a chocolate bar into the carpet, and rubbed vaseline all over the bed and herself.
It was not fun to clean up but I just had to laugh.
Happy New Year!
You have given each of us a great gift this Christmas…. Participating in the SOAR project created a few series of tears… as I was reminded of looking past the daily struggles of confidence into the bigger picture and calling that we all have… Thank you so much for taking the time/energy/heart/tears/sweat to review all of our stories…and then ensure that you have created a safe place. May you be blessed a hundredfold for all you have poured out. By the way, I am a little bummed I was traveling while trying to complete my video entry and didn’t have the ability to add my pictures… but I know there is this beautiful thing called the internet… =) Let me know if there is any way I can still send you some pictures, or if it even matters at this point – I was blown away by all the videos I’ve seen so far… It will definitely be exciting to cheer on whoever you choose.
Is there any better way to view them? My computer is struggling to actually display and show the videos… maybe its an internet problem?
As far as FUNNY Christmas stories go… I’m not sure…but a sweet one is that my sister-in-law and brother, after 7 years of marriage, are waiting on a court date for their adoption referral… and I was able to throw her a baby shower for their son Levi!
Yours story made me laugh Me Ra. Rosie sounds like the dog we had when I was a child. Her name was Polly (short for Poligonha) and she was such a cheerful, love-filled dog.
Our Christmas had to be postponed. I imagine you heard it in my video… we all came down with a cold and we’re just now starting to recover. So, we’ll be having Christmas sometime in 2010 by the looks of things! LOL.
The best thing about it though, was all three of us snuggled in bed, sniffling away and having laughing fits. Sometimes we just laugh in turn and then can’t stop. It’s the best. Our son’s (9 months on Christmas day) belly laughs and giggles just make our hearts shine!!
Great post thanks, all the best. I really like reading this blog, it has a good location on my favourites bar! Haywood Wandrei
Thought I might contribute this “If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture, let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies… It would be a sad situation if the wrapper were better than the meat wrapped inside it.” – Albert Einstein
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