January 2 – “A fun process”

Handyman Josh was at his best yesterday.  I got to pretty much act as apprentice and assistant as he did a major installation project.  We now have one of those doorbells that gives me a phone call when anyone rings it.  We also have one of those hidden cameras so we can see who is at the door or even all the way out to the street.  Good security measure being taken by many of the residents in our neighborhood after a recent rash of car burglaries.

We finally got to do our family gift exchange.  We offered to wait until after lunch, but for some reason there were ten children who vetoed that idea.  Well, truth be told, the number was slightly higher than ten.  Hey, there were even stockings filled with goodies, and everyone knew we couldn’t open anything until Nani got her Christmas picture.  And this year it was a little different.  Josh figured out how to set the timer on his phone so we could all be in it.  It was a … “fun process.”  But we got it done.  Pretty good picture of a pretty great bunch of folks named Vaughan.

A few of the gifts that came my way: headlights and tail lights for the truck, one of those Echo Dot Alexa-talking machines, a subscription to Texas Highways magazine, a Hawaiian shirt (or as Cailyn described it, “a church shirt”).  Nathan and April were here, so he took the lead on setting up the Alexa talking machine.  He integrated it with the hidden camera so Alexa tells me when someone has activated the camera at the front door.  It’s all pretty eerie.  It’s also tuned to our firestick, but we couldn’t get her to talk to our less-than-smart TV, though.  Guess that means we need a new TV, right?  Maybe just a little bigger?

One of the highlights of the day came when we played Christmas Family Feud.  I prepared it for our church Christmas party, but we ran out of time there.  It seemed to be a big hit for all ages, though.  It was girls against guys (The guys had the numbers advantage. But as one of the fellas said, “Yeah, but the girls are smarter at this Christmas stuff”).  It went back and forth throughout the seven rounds.  I would have to say that the star of the show was Christi.  She cheered every answer just like they do on TV.  And when she went head to head with Josh and won the round, she exploded into a trash talking machine.  It was … frightening.  I have no idea who finally won.  I played it like the middle child I am and didn’t even keep score.  That did cause some consternation among the first-borns in the crowd, but all in all I think everyone had a fun time. 

Last night we topped it all off with a TV trip to the Sugar Bowl.  We had more than one Baylor fan in our midst (Plus Super-fan Caleb), which led of course to some of those who didn’t really care one way or another to immediately side with Georgia.  Sadly, though, Baylor couldn’t keep up with the Bulldogs.  They ended up losing 26-14.  Not a horrible game, but still not a victory.  Baylor’s quarterback was knocked out in the fourth quarter, and their best receiver apparently bruised or broke a rib.  It was a banged up bunch of Bears that will get on a plane home from New Orleans.  Hopefully they have some good memories to take back to Waco with them.  And we hope the Vaughan Cousins have some good memories of the day as well.

Psalms 98:1-2 says, “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.  The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.”

Father, how many times and in how many ways can I say thank you for our family?  Sure do love these critters.  All of ‘em.  You done good.  Amen.