Gift #216- Christmas Packages

Most of our Christmas packages got a little held up in this year.  In fact, there is still one floating around out there that was mailed on December 13th!  But this hold up turned into such a blessing! Over the past 4 weeks, our Christmas packages from home have been showing up intermittently at our little post office.  This has helped stretch our celebrating way into the New Year!  Getting a package always brings so much joy.  But what has brought even greater joy this year has been the amazing thoughtfulness that has been poured into each every box that we have opened!  Tony Hawk t-shirts for skateboard-addicted kids.  Panama City Marina and Life is Good T'shirts for adults who needed a little reminder of home.  Beautiful old hankies and Valentines Day cards from my sweet grandma's house.  A box FULL of beautifully- wrapped homemade treats and candies (even Turbo treats) that were lovingly made by little hands.  An Amazon gift card to a girl who orders from Amazon almost every other day! An unfinished Christmas letter to her children that my mom began writing many years back.  A beautiful necklace.  A paper arm-sretched-hug from a sweet niece.  The greatest bacon turner ever known to mankind!  Chick-fil-A sauce!  A favorite book from a childhood best friend.  Nerds and candies, and silly putty, and whoopee cushions, and cold hard cash for kiddos who LOVE Nerds and candies and silly putty and whoopee cushions and cold hard cash!  SEASON ONE OF DUCK DYNASTY on DVD!  Happy Happy Happy!  Every opened box has brought so much JOY!  So many smiles.  So many memories.  So much gratitude for the family that God has given us.  Blessed beyond measure is how we are feeling.

Gift #215- A Date with Dad

Macy chose Kikutei for her birthday dinner.  So she and her dad went out on a date this evening.  When Hank asked her to go get dressed, she put on her prettiest black velvet skirt and her sparkly top and her navy blue pea coat.  She even sprayed on a little bit of my perfume.  Such a big girl!

Gift #214- Twin Seven Year Olds!

Sam and Macy turned 7!  The time sure does fly.  I remember adding blankets to their car seats so they would be big enough to bring home from the hospital.  They had their friends Sarah and Colson over to celebrate.  Sam chose Crossroads for dinner (the base food court)  Easy Peasy.  Sam had a chocolate homemade cake with a Marine fire team on top.  Macy chose an icecream cake.  Until this year, I had been able to get away with just one cake.  My run is over.  But I can't complain.  Happy Birthday to my favorite twins!

Gift #213- Macy and her PJ's

Macy gets home from school at approximately 2:45 every week day.  This is her by 2:47.  My girl loves her PJ's.  She gets this love very honestly from her momma.

Gift #212- A Birthday Card from Papa

This birthday card was actually a gift for Jack, but it truly is a gift to all those who see.  Right?  Dad has never worried about acting silly.  It is one of his most endearing qualities.  Whether it is candy corn on his canine teeth and his best dracula voice or pickles hanging from his tongue, he never fails to entertain.  He gets that from my grandma.  So when this little jewel arrived in the mail, I thought that it truly captured the man that is my dad!  I wouldn't change a thing!

PS- I thought that he might be a little bit hesitant for me to post this picture.  But when I asked him if I could use it on the blog, his exact response was "Blog Away".  Typical.  :0)

PSS-  One of Jack's friends said "Cool, he has a blue tooth.".  Jack said "look closely, he literally has a blue tooth."  Hilarious!  Thanks Dad.

Gift #211- Life, Air, and Shelter

Macy decided to start naming her own 1000 Gifts.  

Gift #210- A Japanese Opera

A few weeks ago, Hank and I had the opportunity to attend a Unicef Charity Concert featuring a famous Japanese opera singer.  She sang many recognizable pieces and finished her performance with Christmas carols.  Singing Silent Night in English together with the Japanese people singing in their own language was such a beautiful sound.

We ordered one western plate and one Japanese plate.  Both were very Japanese.  :0)  The above picture was our main course- a Sashimi Plate. Sashimi is raw meats and seafood served as a main course in a formal Japanese meal.  It is usually presented with rice and miso soup.  Hank and I tried a little taste of everything on the plate.  We didn't necessarily love any of it, but we didn't mind any of it either.  (except for the yellow tail- very fishy).  We had a great time.  It was a unique and wonderful way to begin our holiday season.

Gift #209- Sam's New Little Friend

Sam has been begging for a hamster for 2 years now.  Hank and I have firmly resisted.  But when he told us this year that all he wanted for Christmas was a hamster and that he would love it forever, we found ourselves on a mission to find that little boy a hamster.  We read that hamsters are not super cuddly and that they are not too fond of being held.  Sam wanted a pet that he could hold and squeeze and literally name GEORGE!!!  We researched sugar gliders and found that they met Sam's criteria for "squeezeability".   We found the sugar glider at a pet store in Yanai (about an hour away) and hid the little guy in our closet for 2 weeks!  It was crazy!  We are crazy!  Completely and Certifiably Crazy!

Sam could not believe it when he unwrapped his sugar glider cage!  He could not believe that he had a pet of his very own.  Hank had already named the little guy Mojo.  But when Sam saw him, he immediately named him George.  And then he changed it to Charlie.  And yesterday he changed it to Jake.  Jack and Josh call him MC Hammer.  The poor little sugar glider must be so confused.  But seeing Sam hold Mojo George Charlie Jake MC Hammer Thomas in his little hands, makes all of the crazy worth while.  I think.  :0)

Gift #208- New Years Eve

Gold Rush Marathon Food

New Years Eve was always a big day at the Randall house.  My mom always made a bathtub full of Texas Trash (party mix), a pan of Nestle Golden Brownies, and a few gallons of lime sherbet punch.  She made many other treats as well, but the Texas Trash. brownies,  and punch were the staples.  Mom would set the table up with snacks inside and my dad would build a fire outside and drag out all the chairs that we could find.  We stayed up until midnight and my dad would shoot his shotgun to ring in the New Year.  As the Randall kids got older and started dating, we always made sure to come home on New Years Eve to join in on the festivities.  Our friends were always welcome.  Even after we moved away from home, my mom would send us a box of party mix in the mail on New Years Eve.  A few years ago, Jack got to shoot the first shot of the New Year.  He still has the shell to prove it!  The memories of New Years Eve at 811 Avery Street is such a gift!

No shotgun firing allowed here on base in Iwakuni!  So we will celebrate a little differently.  We are having a Gold Rush Marathon!  Gold Rush is our very favorite show!  We downloaded the current season and we will spend the evening watching TV and eating gold foods-  golden brownies, cheese fries, golden oreos, corn bread bites, golden graham squares, ginger ale, etc.  Maybe we will fire off some party poppers or sparklers at midnight.  Maybe we will just stay in where it is warm.   We can FaceTime Avery Street tomorrow and hear Papa's shotgun ringing in another New Year!

We pray that God's greatest blessings will be upon your homes and ours in 2013.

Happy New Year!

Earlier in the day, we had a block Party to celebrate the new year.  It was freezing!  But it was fun being together with our wonderful neighbors.

Gift #207- My sister's 15th Anniversary!

So happy for my sister and her sweet husband Oscar.  Congratulations on 15 years!  

I hope that the next 15 are even more wonderful.  

Gift #206- Eternal Father

To close our chapel service each week, we sing "Eternal Father Strong to Save."  I love singing it all together with our church family.  I sat beside Macy yesterday and noticed that she knew every word and that she sang it out so beautifully. I love hearing Macy sing anything.  She can do a mean Taylor Swift.  But hearing her sing a prayer about the Navy and Marine Corps just made me feel so proud.

Eternal Father, Strong to save,

Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,

Who bid'st the mighty Ocean deep

Its own appointed limits keep;

O hear us when we cry to thee,

for those in peril on the sea.

Eternal Father, grant, we pray

To all Marines, both night and day,

The courage, honor, strength, and skill

Thy land to serve, thy law fulfill;

Be thou the shield forevermore

From every peril to the Corps.