White Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas! (And be warned, I got a new camera for Christmas from Richard!)

After a delicious & traditional Christmas Eve dinner with the Pfeifer-clan (shrimp, shish kabobs, and cheese fondue - yummmmmm!), Mack was ready for Santa's visit.

Then it was off to bed and Mack by some miracle fell right asleep. Richard had gone to church early with his mom so he stayed home with Mack while the rest of us headed to St John's for the 'midnight' service. Followed of course by our traditional photos by the tree (that somehow the boys managed to completely avoid).


Then Christmas morning was full of excitement! Mack was overjoyed that Santa remembered to bring him ALL of things he wanted: a basketball goal, a whole firetruck and fire station made of Legos, a big yellow truck (and more...a tricycle, football, flashing blue ball, a Mater hat...Mack must really be the best boy in the world).

Uncle Jon and Aunt Dare had to head out early to go visit Dare's family in Rocky Mount. Mack was sad to see his favorite uncle go! Then we played and played...and took much needed naps. Food preparation began and we had a fun visit from Grammy...who gave Mack his first guitar! Mack is a rock star in the making.

Then we had a scrumptious dinner, during which we watched the SNOW falling outside! We had our first White Christmas ever!!!! And after falling asleep watching the movie White Christmas (another Pfeifer tradition), we all went to bed and woke up to a beautiful blanket of snow.

We had a wonderfully blessed Christmas with our family and are so thankful for this beautiful holiday celebrating the birth of our savior.

Believe it or not, there are more pictures and if you'd like to see them, click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=armstrongmap&target=ALBUM&id=5555104568146640753&authkey=Gv1sRgCNej47D--5aqmwE&feat=email

Merry Christmas!

Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus...

Christmas Song

In keeping with my post from last year, I wanted to share the Christmas song that is this year speaking to my heart. This year's song is one that I used to despise: The Little Drummer Boy. Previously, I could not get past all of the "pa rump a pum pumming" in this song. I found it to be so annoying that any time I heard the first few strains of the song, I would immediately change the channel or skip the track. But this year, I feel like God brought me past the "pa rump a pum pums" to show to me the beauty of the lyrics. The story of a little boy who was told to come and see the newborn king and to bring that king the finest gift he could to bestow honor upon the savior. And his response to that call:

Little baby
I am a poor boy, too.
I have no gift to bring
That's fit to lay before a king.
Shall I play for you
On my drum?

Mary nodded...
I played my drum for him.
I played my BEST for him.
Then, he smiled at me,
Me and my drum.

Would I have dared to approach the manger, knowing my savior lay inside and it was my turn to bring him honor? I seriously doubt it. I would have fled in fear and shame! But what does the Lord ask of me? Only to play my best for him. Not to bring outrageous gifts, not to conquer the world in His name...but to simply turn the gifts and talents that his Father gave me back to Him for His honor.

And Oh! - to see a smile upon Jesus' face meant only for me, simply because I played my best for him while here on this earth. I have a long way to go and a lot to still learn but I pray that I remember these lyrics as I continue my walk in this life.

Pa rump a pum pum...

Baking cookies with daddy

Oh what fun!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Run!

I kicked some major PR tail this Saturday at the 1/2 marathon in Charlotte, taking 25 minutes off my first 1/2 marathon to finish in 1:57:33. Amazing what training will do for your performance - ha ha!

Here are my stats:

Mile 1 9:05

Mile 2 9:04

Mile 3 8:39

Mile 4 9:00

Mile 5 9:30

Mile 6 9:12

Mile 7 9:17

Mile 8 9:16

Mile 9 9:10

Mile 10 8:56

Mile 11 8:30

Mile 12 8:26

Mile 13 7:53

Average pace: 8:59

Overall placement: 1088/3227 (33.5%)

Division placement: 83/355 (23.4%)

My family came out to watch me. My mom, dad, Mack & Elizabeth cheered me on around mile 8 (Mack was so funny because he saw me but he just stared at me, like "What on earth is mommy doing?"). That was right when I needed a boost! When I got to mile 10 I realized that I felt really great and started to pick up the pace, as you can tell above. I finished so much more quickly than I'd expected that no one was waiting for me at the finish line yet. Poor Richard didn't get to see me run at all! He'd come down to the race with me in the morning to help me find my way and get settled in, but was stuck downtown during the race and then missed my finish, too. I had to call him on a stranger's cell phone to tell him where to find me. My poor coach - all his hard work trying to keep me on schedule these past many months and he doesn't even get to watch the results.

Mack partaking of a recovery bar after the race:

Afterwards we walked over to the Bank of America building, enjoyed the mammoth Christmas decorations, and watched the Singing Bears' Christmas Concert. Mack and the other little kiddies there were so enthralled by them! It was really cute.

Then back to the house for a big yummy lunch and a looooong nap (for me)!

Sassy on the roof!

Sassy is Mack's name for Santa. I love it!

Mack knew exactly what he wanted from Santa for Christmas before he even really knew who Santa was: Mack wants a basketball goal ("bagetball gooohl") and a red truck.

We spent Thanksgiving at a cabin in Blowing Rock with my mom, dad, Elizabeth, Jon & Dare. (For pictures, click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/armstrongmap/Thanksgiving2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCMKZv7bXjZ37Mw&feat=directlink). The Friday after Thanksgiving we were hoping to go see Santa at the "town lighting" event. Well, in our typical style, we didn't make it to Santa until 5:30 - exactly when Santa was supposed to be heading back to the North Pole...and the line-elf (dressed like a normal, everyday man - very excellent disguise) blocked us from getting in line. I was very disturbed. BUT - never fear, a Christmas miracle is always right around the corner!

On Saturday, we made a trip to the Mast General Store. While fighting our way through the crowded aisles there, I heard someone say that Santa was at the Little Red Schoolhouse. I had no idea where this Little Red Schoolhouse but much to my delight, it was right out back! So we went in to check it out. And Santa was there! There were hardly any other kids there and we didn't have to wait at all to see this much nicer and more qualified Santa than the previous evening's.

Mack was so funny. He became instantly shy and barely mumbled "basketball" when he told Santa what he wanted for Christmas. When we put Mack on Santa's lap, Mack absolutely refused to look at him and employed his standard shyness routine - cramming his fingers in his nose and mouth:

One night this past week, Mack & I read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas together. Richard & I had been trying to explain Santa all month to Mack, but I think the illustrations in this book really brought the concept home for Mack. It was funny to see Mack's little wheels turning in his head as he processed the idea that a man would be landing a sleigh and 8 deer on our roof, coming down the chimney with a basketball goal in tow to be laid by the tree while consuming our cookies and milk, and then heading back up the chimney to fly away with his deer. Now, since that reading, Mack will randomly stop in the middle of his route through the house, point up at the ceiling and say "Sassy on roof!" Sooooooooo cute.

The other concept we're trying to explain to Mack is that Christmas is truly about the baby Jesus' birthday. Mack says "Jesus" in the sweetest, most heart-melting voice. When we ask him if he loves Jesus, he nods his head with big serious eyes and says "Jhes" (yes). We aren't quite sure how to link for him the fact that Jesus' birthday is celebrated by a man in a red suit coming down a chimney and giving us presents...because we aren't really sure about that ourselves. I think it's just a wonderful thing that we're all taught at during our childhoods and take at face value - because who wants to question the man in the red suit?!?!

We're so excited about this Christmas with our little man!

Woah, Snow!

Where did this come from?! I had no idea it was supposed to snow this weekend. I was outside blowing leaves while my dad raked and hauled them off when all of the sudden I realized that the stuff swirling around my face wasn't just leaves any more! We figured it would flurry for a bit and then go away but it kept snowing for hours and we now have a whole blanket of snow on the ground. We continued on with the leaf clean-up even as the snow started to stick. Mack had so much fun catching snowflakes on his tongue and riding in the huge piles of snowy leaves that we were hauling to the burn pile on a giant tarp. What a fun surprise!