My Family

I LOVE Christmas time.  It has finally hit me that the holiday is here, and this morning, I’m curled on my couch with a cup of hot coffee enjoying my first day of winter break from school.  My favorite thing about Christmas this year is that Andy and I will be able to spend it with my family.  It has been three years since I’ve spent Christmas Day with my family as we’ve been at my in-laws for the past two years.  Andy’s family is absolutely awesome – I could not ask for better in-laws – but there is something so special about spending big holidays with your own parents and siblings.

 

At work this week, there has been much talk about the holidays and where everyone is traveling over break.  It is the time of year where you tend to learn a great deal about other people’s families – their relationships, their traditions, their religious beliefs – and those conversations often reinforce how blessed I am to have the family I have.  As Andy and I start our own family, I am also thinking more about the dynamic I want to set for Daniel and the memories I want him to have from our household. 

 

I hope Daniel sees in Andy and me what I see in my parents every time I’m with them, and that is great, romantic love.  My parents are the cutest married couple I know, and anyone who has spent any length of time with them can tell you that.  They don’t have many friends.  They aren’t that couple who has a packed social calendar and goes out with a different group every weekend.  They are each other’s best friend.  They love spending time together, and they have several activities that they enjoying doing with one another.  When it comes to leisure time, it is rare to see my mom without my dad.  My dad makes corny jokes and my mom laughs at them like he is still her teenage crush.  I usually roll my eyes, but I can’t help also smiling at how much she adores him.  It isn’t abnormal to overhear him whistle or make an admiring comment when she comes in dressed to go out or to catch a glimpse of a little love note he has left on the dash of her car.  When my mom comes to Charlotte to spend the day shopping, she calls my dad at least three times “just to check in.”  They are so in love and so adorable.  I hope Daniel is able to see how much his dad and I love each other, too.  I hope he learns from us (and from his grandparents) not only to look for a wife who can be a good partner, but one who can be a great and joyful love.

 

I am also looking forward to seeing my brothers this week, and the fact that I am having a boy has made me wonder what qualities Daniel might inherit from his uncles.  Obviously, I want my boy to turn out like his daddy, who also happens to be my favorite man on earth, but I adore my brothers.   What I love most about my brothers is how different they are, and I am so thankful for the uniqueness of each of my relationships with them.  When we were both in high school, JT was one of my very best friends.  Unlike many men, JT is a fantastic conversationalist.  To this day, one of my favorite memories from that time in my life is the two of us hanging out in my room late at night just talking – about life, dating, our goals and dreams, the Lord.  JT has an awesome excitement for life that makes me love him.  As an example, when I sent out my ultrasound picture to my entire family, JT was the only one who responded with absolute enthusiasm (and three text messages) describing how he could see each of Daniel’s little features and then telling me that the picture had made his day.  I LOVE how he gets excited for other people and what is happening in their lives.  I love that when we talk on the phone, he always asks me how Daniel Thomas is doing, and the child isn’t even born yet.  In addition to his middle name, I hope Daniel inherits from JT this type of enthusiasm and love of life.  I hope he laughs a lot and dreams big and lives with a contagious energy and excitement – especially for his family!

 

My brother, Casey, and I didn’t become especially close until JT moved to Ethiopia for a couple of years.  Casey and I are almost four years apart in age, also, so I think it took some time before we had enough in common to build a relationship of our own.  Interestingly, he and I are the most alike.  Casey is conservative and studious.  He likes to read and learn, and he is insanely intelligent.  Ironically, one of the things I love most about Casey is that he is NOT easily excited.  All of the Vaughn clan can be high strung at times, but usually Casey is calm, rational, and methodical.  Casey is the brother I call when I need time processing a decision and talking out various possibilities.  Casey is willing to patiently analyze a problem from all sides and not rush to “fix it.”  From him, I hope Daniel learns not to rush into life.  I want my son to live with great joy, but I also want him to be cautious and wise in the decisions he makes.

 

As we celebrate Jesus’ birth this year, I can’t wait to spend the day with my parents, brothers, and sisters-in-law.  I am so thankful that we have close and loving relationships and that we have not experienced strife or brokenness with one another.  I am also thankful that the holidays are not a time of stress or anxiety for us, but just great joy at being together (something that distance makes a rare occurrence).  The Lord could not have blessed me more by putting these precious members into my life, and I can’t wait to introduce Daniel to each of these people – he is already so blessed to have pieces of them in himself.