Christmas 2008

Two Christmasses in a row without your husband really starts to wear on a person. Even the strongest of us! Last year he had *just* left, and I was at my parents house. I did ok, but he struggled. This year, as hard as it is for him, he's too busy to think about it and I'm the one with all the time at home by myself to mope.

Time is getting closer. It will be so good to have him home. 14 months is a long time and I know many wouldn't get through it as easily as we have. I don't feel I did anything special, and we'll gladly do it again the next time around. Ok, maybe not "gladly"! But we'll do it just the same.

Christmas Eve we always let the kids open a few presents. They always get new pajamas right before bedtime. By the way, if your daughter isn't into High School Musical or Hannah Montana, it might not be a good idea to go PJ shopping at Walmart. I didn't have much of a choice. Luckily the lady next to me found Tinker Bell and asked if my daughter would like that. Yeah! Hunter got Kung Fu Panda, which he says so funny I can't repeat it, and Drew got Transformers PJ's.

I also let them open one of their gifts from Nana & Gramps. My parents like to give one big present for all three of them, which I appreciate. It's nice because they don't play with toys and whatever my parents buy them they have to share. The kids are usually good at sharing in the first place. Last year they got a Wii and it's been put to good use. So this year my parents surprised the kids with their very own laptop! And I was grateful that I don't have to share mine because I'm not as good at sharing as they are!

After that we found ourselves at a friend's house. We spent Thanksgiving at her house, and we'll probably spend New Year's Eve there as well. And when I think back over the year as far as holidays go, the same friends have been there for almost every one. That's comforting when I think of the turnover rate I have for friends. At least I've held on to the same ones for a year!

We let the kids open one gift at our friend's house. I gave Hunter some HotWheels I meant for his stocking. And Louisa has been begging me for these bangles they sell at Walmart. Everyone in school has them (which yes, a lot of girls do), so I gave her some rainbow ones, and lucky her... Santa gave her blue bangles in her stocking! While roaming the store one day I found this really cool deck of Star Wars information cards. I knew Drew would love them, and he did. He didn't put them down for the rest of the night.

Yesterday morning the kids got to open gifts their family sent them, but had to wait to open their Santa presents until Daddy got online. He wanted to see them opening their presents on webcam. Oh blessed webcam! Daddy was happy to see the frenzy of wrapping paper, and the kids excitedly held up each gift in front of the camera for him to see. They each got three presents. They don't need more than that. They got exactly what they wanted and we don't have a lot of excess that they won't ever use. Less is more!

Christmas evening we ran over to Andrea and Colton's house. Another staple in our lives the past year. The best friends a gal could ask for. We had gifts for Colton, and they had gifts for the kids. We weren't planning a dinner with them, and I don't know why, but I didn't plan a Christmas dinner at all. I think I had been so focused on Christmas Eve dinner, and the 5 other projects I have going on right now, that Chirstmas dinner just escaped my mind. Silly me. Another crazy chaotic moment among many.

Because everything was closed except the Chinese buffet, we settled for a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. If you don't know what that is, watch this.

(You can fast forward to 3:05 to see what I'm talking about, and yes, that's really what we had, minus the jelly beans!) Hey, it happens. We all get too busy sometimes. I'm busy with several huge projects right now that take a lot of my time. God is putting me in certain places to do certain jobs. And He's blessed me with children who love to live life outside the box! I'm sure we couldn't get away with this in more structured households.

In closing, I leave you with one of my special children who is extraordinary in every sense of the word.