christmas 2008

the word of the day....peace.
truly.
yes, there was arguing between siblings, and yes we had to raise our voices when they wouldn't listen, but i was with my family. i was with the ones i love. my kids were cute. xander was in awe. my favorite comment all day "that was on my list! that was in my letter to santa!" cassidy totally got the whole opening present thing. and loved the candy, everywhere she turned there was more candy for her to eat. we took a nap all cuddled together, and then they let me sleep even after they woke up. i spoke with most of my family, and thought of christmases past. i completely enjoyed the day. i loved watching the kids. i loved surprising todd with an ipod (at least he says i managed to pull off the surprise.) i loved christmas this year.
now is one of those times that i wish i was more eloquent...
but really it was a great day. relaxing at home, playing with toys and puzzles, and taking lots of pictures. (my present was a new camera...300+ pictures on christmas morning!)

(it took the four of us 2 hours to open all the gifts...not bad)

twas the night before christmas

christmas eve

on to brighter things...
today is christmas eve. i'm kind of wishing we had more traditions for the day of christmas eve, cause keeping my children entertained while i try to finish baking and wrapping (and evidentally, blogging) is proving to be difficult. that and i'm trying to make the house presentable and i'm cleaning up the wrekage left by two little tornados.
but they are so excited and it is fun to watch them as their eyes light up at the presents already under the tree. X trying to read the names written on the packages. pointing out to C the ones that are for her. they are excited about the gifts they picked out for their aunts and uncles and can't wait until they open them tonight.
we've been trying to be good to earn straw to fill a manger for a baby jesus doll, and we are placing him in the manger tonight. we have reindeer food to put on the lawn tonight, and we are baking cookies for santa, we have carrots and milk all ready. just have to write a note.
and speaking of notes, it is a really good thing we went to the mall yesterday. we hadn't mailed our letters to santa, but he was still at the mall and he had a mailbox! yup, a mailbox that we were able to put our letters in. just in the nick of time! (however, we did get to see santa claus on november 1st and although they wouldn't sit on his lap they told him what they wanted, so they are feeling pretty confident)
but for now we are doing lots of last minute stuff around the house before we head over to todd's parents house for the christmas eve festivities.
to anyone reading this today....merry christmas. we miss our family and friends that are far away and hope that your day is wonderful!
(p.s. my christmas cards are turning into new year's cards...but they are coming!)

hurting

so why is it that even though i'm supposed to be wiser and more mature i still care about what others think of me? this last week i had an "incident" that has caused me to do some serious self-assessments...who am i? what do others see when the look at me? when they get to know me? how are my relationships viewed? oh this isn't coming out right. i won't post on here what the situation was, but a longtime friendship may have been severed and saying that i have been hurt by it would be an understatement. and yet, i really do care how these people think of me. cause i am not what they said i am, and i want them to know it. i want to defend myself and scream and shout. i want to yell until i'm heard. but responding back will just add fuel to the flames. i'm a mom, a teacher, a wife...i have a life that is very far away from the profanity and vulgar comments that were hurled at me this week. and yet, it is not far from my thoughts. it is very much at the forefront of everything i've been thinking about. so maybe if i write it out here it will alleviate some of the tension that is inside of me. maybe.... but the hurt is still there, and maybe for a long time.

turkey day 2008

thanksgiving was a lazy holiday this year....

we stayed in our pj's til noon
we missed todd in the morning while he was at work
we watched the parade on tv and saw santa claus...twice
we...i mean i was shopping online
we ate at george & pam's with sheri, whitney, erin and rachel.
we raced remote control cars in the cul-de-sac
we all cooked a dish or two and i didn't over eat (SURPRISE! but now i'm thinking, why didn't i eat more? it was really good!)
we ate pie -rachel's pies were amazing
we didn't watch any football - crazy us
we took some really great pictures of our family
we were all extremely thankful for our wonderful family, our many blessings, and our caring friends