Welcome Christmas!!

Thanks to TBS, I got an early dose of Christmas movies tonight with "Jack Frost" and the cartoon original "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". As I sat, tears coming to my eyes while Jack had to say goodbye to his son at the end of the movie, I became so excited for Christmas to come!

Christmas is the best! I love the many wonderful things that make up the Christmas season. But one of my most favorite things about Christmas are the incredibly sappy, incredibly cheesy Christmas movies that play on TV over and over again. As anyone who has spent December with me can attest, I watch every single one of them, usually multiple times.

It can be a classic like "Miracle on 34th Street", "Holiday Inn", "White Christmas" or a cheesy modern tale like "Elf", "The Santa Clause", "A Season for Miracles", it doesn't matter, I love them all. Why you ask? Good question.

Christmas movies are all about relationships. They're about love, forgiveness, gratitude and compromise. They're about the coming together of family and friends in some great cause outside of themselves. They're about tolerance and patience for oneself and others. They appeal to the best sides of all of us. They help us hope and want to be something greater than we are. They provide a time for all of us to look around and assess our lives and relationships and really make sure they are the best they can be. To make sure we love as He would love and to remember that we are all members of a cause bigger than ourselves.

How can a single movie do all of that? I guess that is the miracle of Christmas!

Pop the popcorn... I'm ready for the next one!

...and Jimmie takes the checker flag!

Well we did it! Our very first official Nascar Sprint Cup series race has been attended. Yep! We packed our bags and headed for Phoenix International Raceway for four days of sun and racing. When Melody started watching racing about a year and half ago, I admit I was the first one to laugh at her. I mean, they just go around in a circle right? About as interesting as watching the ball go back and forth at a tennis match. I was hooked after she talked me ino going to Fontana CA for our first race. We sat in the rain, with track scanners and panchos, and watched final Sprint practice and the Craftsman Truck Series race. As soon as the engines fired, I was hooked. Who knew I was such a sucker for loud, fast cars? LOL - j/k I mean, I think I do hold the record for the most speeding tickets in the family.

Although still not as attached as my sister, I can hold my own during shop talk. Of course you know Melody is a HUGE Rowdy Kyle Busch fan (GO 18!!), but I tend to cheer for everyone, as one of the people sitting around us pointed out. Everyone that is except Carl Edwards! I can take or leave Jimmie Johnson, but Chad Knaus, his crew chief, is the GREATEST! From the moment we got on the plane, we saw people with NASCAR gear on, and when they saw our shirts and visors, they waved and talked to us. We got free advice on everything, including which races are worth going to and raceway parking, which we were EXTREMELY grateful for.

I openly admit to having a great time! Stay tuned for pictures - they're worth it I promise!