The Giant Gardner Christmas/December Update Post

A Little Christmas Shopping

Well, the Christmas season came upon us early this year (they put up stuff here in mid November). My wife held out as long as she could but had to have a tree in the first part of December and so off I went. The problem is that we don't have a car and the nearest Christmas tree place was like 2 miles away. Being the highly intelligent and enterprising person that I am, I decided to make use of the fact that you basically "rent" shopping carts at the grocery store. So yes, I wheeled a shopping cart two miles each way...yes I did get "You're and idiot looks" from people but what the heck, we got a tree.

Full House

Right before exams, Mollie decided it would be a good idea to do a review session for my 9th graders. I agreed and we ended up have all but two of the kids in the whole grade come to our house for a review. It was really an awesome opportunity as I was able to share a small devotion about the lives of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot (we were studying South America and so we talked about Ecuador and tribal missions within the region). The review game went really well and the kids even asked us to have another party at some point but one that didn't involve school work!
One of the Best Christmas Presents Ever

Jordan and Brittany came to visit and Jordan decided to take me away for a couple of days to Milan, Italy. We walked around the city, ate good Italian food, and just talked alot about my ministry and what God is doing in our lives. The city is beautiful and if you have an opportunity to visit, do so.

Italian Flare

Fortunately I was able to talk Jordan into going with me to the San Siro. For those of you who don't follow European soccer, the San Siro is one of the most famous stadiums in all of Europe. We are able to go and see Inter Milan play Atalanta. It was great because they lived up to every sterotype that I have of Italian soccer fans (especially throwing flares on the fields). Inter won 2-1 and the game was temporarily suspended because the Atalanta fans were throwing flares, bottles, and who knows what else on the field. It was awesome.

Christmas Morning

Mollie will post more about Christmas, but this is Thad getting into his presents. He didn't really need any encouragement to open his presents. It was a great day that was very relaxing.