my favorite christmas present.

I
didn’t have anything on my Christmas list this year. I didn’t ask for anything
and really didn’t need anything. I thought it was going to be a Christmas in
Spain, one like no other. And yes, this Christmas was one like no other, but
was completely different than what I assumed it would be.

It
all started when I flew home to Cincinnati to celebrate the wedding of Rachel
Hunt and Donny Riggs. It was a beautiful wedding and meant so much to me to be
able to be a part of it! ((Congrats to the newlyweds!))

I
had no consideration of it whatsoever and thought I would be okay missing the
holidays. Hearing Christmas music, seeing the Christmas trees and being in the
states made me think about how close I was to being with family for the
holidays. A one way ticket back to Spain was all I had and I had planned on
using it the day after the wedding. My mind started spinning with thoughts of
how could I make this work?! Soon after it all came together.

The
fact that I went home for the Christmas season was just as much a surprise for
me as it was my family! So lots
of you have been asking about how my Christmas surprises went…so I figured I’d
just write a blog about it…sharing my 3 fav stories…

My
greatest accomplice was my sister’s boyfriend John. He picked me up from the
airport then we made our way to Lancaster where the surprises and tricks (since
I’m a twin!) began!

Our
first stop was to see my Grams. I called her up pretending I was my sister and
asked about stopping by. We showed up, nothing abnormal, we definitely had her
fooled. It wasn’t even fair. After 10 minutes she was asked me, “what’s becky’s
address in Spain.” It was funny, she totally thought I was Kendra! No clue! Then
John asked her to keep it a secret that we were there because Kendra didn’t
know yet. She did a slow motion double take and then finally realized it was
me! Haha

Next
stop: Kendra’s classroom. She was shocked when she saw me all she could get out
was “WHAT THE HECK!?” Mom and dad’s surprises were slightly more nonchalant. We
tried to fool them, but they know the difference! Bummer!  Mom just yelled with excitement when she saw
me and yelled again after telling her I’d be home for 15 days!

Last
family surprise I’ll share with you all was for my bro Kirby and sis-in-law
Katy. We called and made plans. I got out of the car a block early, meanwhile
Kend, John and Kirby were going to get pizza and I was going to go surprise Katy
in hopes she wouldn’t realize it was me. Our perfect plan failed when I went to
their house, lights were out and the door was locked. They all went to get
pizza. I was locked outside in the freezing cold for 20 minutes.

After
seeing the car come back and all of them go inside it was surprise time. I went
and knocked, Kirby came to the door and maybe for a split second he thought I
was Kendra, but quickly. He didn’t understand where I came from! Haha and Katy
too! They were so so thrown off and ridiculously surprised! Loved it!

There’s
countless more surprise stories I could share…but I won’t.

Being
able to be at home with my family made me realize what a blessing it really is
to be able to spend that time of year with them! It never meant as much to me as
it did when it became something I wasn’t supposed to have.

There
are so many things we have to be thankful for, the everyday blessings of life
that we assume will always exist and when they don’t they mean so much more! Be
thankful for those things and know how great a blessing they truly are!

I
didn’t have anything on my Christmas list this year, I didn’t really ask for
anything, but there was one thing I needed most: MY FAMILY! It was the best
Christmas gift I ever got. Seriously!