growing up near both sets of grandparents, we had pretty set traditions for when and where we celebrated holidays. but christmas morning was always just us, the immediate family. and i loved growing up that way. i've kind of taken it for granted that it would be the same for my kids. i mean, i never expected to stay here in the central valley my whole life, but i hadn't really thought about what that meant in terms of holidays and specific things we'd be giving up or moving away from. 

christmas this year has been really really great. it's been fun, we've had a lot of special teaching moments with the kids, i've felt the meaning of christmas more than any other year and things were relaxed and enjoyable. but last night, on the way home from my mom's i had a realization. this year will be the last year, at least for the foreseeable future, that we will be able to do christmas morning together as a family and still be within driving distance of family, especially parents.

and that made me a little sad.

we will either have our christmas morning as a family or christmas with extended family. we will no longer be able to have the blessing of both. and i will miss that. i will especially miss that for my kids.

but i'm grateful for all the years we have been able to enjoy such a blessing and my kids have too, even though they won't remember it.

christmas on sunday

i have a confession to make. when i first discovered that christmas was on a sunday this year i was disappointed. 


on a different, but related note, i've really wondered, like i never have how to make this holiday real and important to my kids. how can i make sure that they really understand why we celebrate christmas? they're really young, but if we don't teach them now it won't mean too much later. i want them knowing from as early as they can remember that christmas is for charity and family and service and reflection.


i, myself have felt very reflective this year and felt the true meaning of christmas a little more this year than i ever have in my 26 christmases. as i struggled with how to convey to them how truly important christmas is, i realized having christmas on sunday is perfect. what better way to teach them that christmas is about Christ than to actually worship in Christ's house? 


actually writing that (and re-reading it) makes me feel silly because so many people already know that, that's why they have midnight mass and other special church services on christmas day. but because we live our religion more than some we don't consider it essential to actually be in church on christmas to celebrate and show our respect. but i do consider it a bonus and hope that it will help to show my children how important christmas--and all that it represents--is to me.

grateful for...

a husband who works really hard, but doesn't forget that family is more important than money.


paul got his commission check today. it was so much bigger than i was anticipating, especially since i wasn't really counting on it. things have been so up in the air and while we've been trying really hard to save money it just hasn't seemed to be working for one reason or another. there were some necessities that had to be paid for and a few wants and it just wasn't happening. i was pretty confident that we had enough money to make our move when the time came, but i just wasn't positive. but now i'm very confident. and that makes enjoying the holidays a little easier because it's one less thing to worry about.


i feel very blessed this holiday season. we've been very well taken care of by our heavenly father. i'm so very grateful to generous and supportive friends and family. it makes no logical sense that we're not completely and utterly broke, but somehow we're not, and i know it's not due to my amazing budgeting skills. 

precious moments...

These days this scene doesn't happen too often anymore. They're too squirmy to sit still and rarely want to cuddle for longer than about 30 seconds. Poor Freddy was feeling so yucky though yesterday. I don't know what he ate, but he was emptying his stomach from about 5:30 until 8:00. He just wanted to be held, and it was nice to just hold him for awhile.

On a side note, we really need to finally purchase a camera . . . maybe after the move.