A Catch Up Holiday Post

Well the Christmas season just flew by!  With two extremely excited kids, I had to just do Christmas rather than write about it this year.  It was so much fun though.  They were over the moon excited about Santa, baby Jesus, Ralph (our reindeer alternative to the Elf of the Shelf), snow, trains...

My favorite part of Christmas is the skit at church.  I am in charge of it and I just love it.  This year I let both kids be in even though Lilah is technically too young.  They were mice with their cousins Jade and Junior.  Candi dubbed them "the rat pack."  They were so freaking cute!  I have no pictures.  Mom fail.  My work assistant may have some.  If I ever get a hold of them, I will post some.

The kids got all they wanted and more from Santa, family and friends.  We had lots of time to spend with those that we love, ate a lot of good food and played with a whole bunch of new toys!  It even snowed in the weeks leading up to the big day, which gave us a few extra days off of school and a bunch of memories.

So here it is ladies and gents.  My Christmas photo dump.  Enjoy!

A quick side note....sad that this is a side note and not it's own post...you may notice the gigantic bruise on Lilah's nose in some of the pics.  We thought she broke it, but she didn't. She face planted into the foot board of our bed while running one night.  It bled a lot and she cried a lot.  Thankfully, our professional Christmas pictures were taken before it happened!

Dear Blog, I've Missed You

Dear Blog,

I've missed you.  Things got a little crazy right before Thanksgiving and I've been working on finding a new normal.  A new normal where my best friend's mom resides in heaven instead of in a nursing home bed.  A new normal where cancer is a chronic disease.  And where I am at peace with all of it.

Am I?  Not really.  It's not fair.  None of it is.  Shawn says I have a skewed version of fair because I have been lucky in life.  He's right.  But it's still not fair.

But I am choosing to be okay with it.  What else is there to do?

Donna is in a better place.  I can't even imagine to go from what she had become to a place where all is healed and she is free of all of her earthly torment.

Mom is here with us.  Sick, but still here.  She starts treatment today.  And just like I've been saying, it's like the bad news gets chipped away little by little.  It's still bad.   But it's liveable.  And LIFE is what it's all about.

We thought Lilah broke her nose.  She didn't, but it looked like this is still quite noticeably bruised.

It snowed a lot.  The kids had a ball in it.

Thanksgiving and my birthday came and went and now we have five days until Christmas.

And I feel so blessed.

So blessed to have known Donna and basked in the light she gave off when she was well.

So blessed to have my Mom and medical science keeping her here with us.

So blessed to have my babies healthy and so very excited for Christmas.

So blessed to have married my high school sweetheart and to have my best friend also be my first and only love. 

So very blessed to have amazing friends and a wonderfully supportive family.

We took a Christmas tree and some baking items to a family from church.  That's what they wanted for Christmas.   It was almost too much for me to handle.  Their house was very bare.  Both the mother and one of the children underwent major surgery this past year.  They have had it really rough.  We were able to go back and take gifts as well.  They didn't ask for the gifts, but they needed them.

It can always be worse.  Choosing to be positive once I have grieved is a wonderful trait my mother passed down to me.  I hope to pass it on to my own babies.

I promise to check in more.  I didn't know how to write all of this down.  Now that I have, I can move forward and post the pictures of my beautiful children that our wonderful photographer captured.  And snow pictures, Santa pictures and the Christmas pictures that I will have soon.  I cannot wait to see their faces on Christmas.  They are so genuinely excited and they so innocently believe.

The Christmas Eve skit is going to be out. of. this. world.  The kids are going to be mice with two of their cousins.  Shawn's Aunt has dubbed them "the rat pack."  There will be a real baby Jesus!  And Shawn's Uncle will make an appearance as Santa Claus.  He will bless the baby Jesus in silence.  The kids in that church are going to LOOSE THEIR MINDS.

Thanks for giving me a place to share.

Love,
Maria

Ramblings of a Sleepy Girl

Lilah has for reasons unbeknownst to me decided that deer lives in her room.  Sometimes she won't go into her room because according to her the deer is in her bed.  Other times we will be in her bed as she is falling asleep and she will tell me that the deer just jumped out the window, or some other randomness.

Last night as Lilah was falling asleep she was pushing on her sheet as if it was bothering her, so I moved it off of her.  She grabbed it and pulled it back up saying, "No!  Keep it on.  I don't want the animals to see my butts."   

Then she followed that up with, "you can't leave me in the snow because that would be terrible!" 

I said, "okay, Lilah, you're right, I won't.   Now go to sleep."

And she did.