Sweet Life

For Christmas, J. gave me a bauble. I like baubles. He knows I like them. The best part is that he lets me pick them out - so he KNOWS I will LOVE it.

My latest addition to my growing bling collection is a Jeanine Payer ring that reads: The experience of this sweet life. It is gold and silver with a floating diamond on the bottom band. You can see it at sundancecatalog.com if you're interested.

I love this ring for what it says. A daily reminder to be thankful for this sweet life. Be thankful for all my blessings. J. and the kids and our life. It is a wonderfully sweet life I am living...and I love having that statement on the middle finger of my right hand all the time to remind me. Pleasant to look at on days like today when the sweetness of this life is overwhelming. And handy to look at on days when it feels not-so-sweet - when I'm tired, stressed, overwhelmed, wishing for some alone time. Those days happen. But the ring will help remind me that sweetness prevails. I just have to let it in.

Hope your life is sweet and the sweetness grows. If you think it isn't, keep looking. You'll find it. Sometimes it takes time. But it's there.

Survived

Christmas is over. We made it. The day before felt like a long, drawn out panic attack. Too much - too much to do, too much to plan. And then, the evening traditions fell apart - the Santa Clause movie was MISSING. As in nowhere to be found. Personally, I think we tossed the VHS version thinking we had it on DVD - but we either don't have it on DVD OR we had it and have misplaced it. We searched high and low with no success. B. is just SO locked into his traditions - he was freaking out. Generally making us all miserable about it. So we made a trip to Blockbuster in search of the movie and they didn't have it either. We drove around looking at lights (and the kids were shocked and seemed upset when I shared that we started that tradition as a way to get them sleepy so they'd go to bed earlier) and then had cocoa and went to bed. J. and I were still up until after midnight wrapping and doing the 'Santa' thing. I fretted that it didn't look like much under the tree.

When the kids were little, J. would take them to Visalia to visit his folks the day after Thanksgiving. I would have everything purchased and spend the entire Thanksgiving weekend wrapping - so it was ALL done by December 1st. My co-workers were always so impressed and amazed - and in hindsight, it's probably one of the few REALLY organized things I consistently did. Those days are over - no Visalia visits anymore and I seem to shop until the last minute. Then spend hours wrapping. Thankfully, J. helps a lot - he has this entire 'code' system worked out so I can sign the Santa presents (I've been perfecting that signature for close to 15 years now and have it pretty well mastered) and label them with the names of the recipient. Two upstairs rooms become wrapping central - and still look like a tornado hit them.

Christmas morning was fun. Both boys up early and in good spirits. Patienly waited for me and let me sleep in until almost NINE - amazing. The gifts were a big hit - especially the scavenger hunt for $$. We owed them allowance and added some Christmas money - so they both got a 'windfall' and had to read clues and hunt for it. They had fun. It was a great morning. The boys headed to the game room for Playstation - they each got a new game and Santa left a game for the two of them as well. Santa also left the family a real clay poker chip set and a poker table set. We plan to have a poker night this week and try to wedge in a family game night every week or so.

Today, we will work hard on getting the house back to 'normal' (or our version of normal, anyway). Some order will be returned. We will start culling out closets for the year-end donations to Goodwill. We will eat leftovers, enjoy our gifts and hang out at home. Tomorrow, the first wave of extended family arrive in the area - followed by another wave on Thursday. I'm counting down the vacation days left - and they are flying by, as expected.

Hope your holidays are proceeding happily. Enjoy.

Whirlwind

It's the season when the days fly by. Can't keep up. Behind at home. Behind at work. Being behind at work doesn't stop me from taking a weeks vacation in addition to the 'closure days' - but it did make me go in yesterday when I was supposed to be off. The closure days are WONDERFUL 'cuz you no noone else will be there, either. So what needs to wait will wait - and noone will care. LOVE THAT!

AND I caught the cold going around our house - last week was H. This week, B. was hit and had to keep going since he had finals all week. Yesterday afternoon, after I left work, it started. Sore throat, achy, headache. Lovely.

We leave for Disneyland tomorrow. We opened the Santa package left under the tree last Monday (when he was in the neighborhood for H's school performance). I always forget the camera - their faces were priceless. First the realization that we're going to Disneyland - then the absolute rapture/shock that we're going TOMORROW. They are over the moon excited. And are trying to help us get ready. We'll take the dogs to the kennel this afternoon and be packed up and ready to walk out the door (hopefully) tomorrow morning fairly early.

My sister K. is doing OK. Yesterday was their 33rd wedding anniversary and it sounds like it hit them both very hard. She is doing the best she can - one day at a time. She's learning to do so many things she's always relied on M. to do - de-icing the cars, the sidewalks. Grocery shopping. Little things that M. has always done and now it's all up to her. But she's doing fine - she's a tough cookie. I'm sending her a package of stuff for Christmas - spoiling her this year 'cuz she deserves it. She ALWAYS deserves it - but this year especially. Wish we lived closer so she could spend some of her time off with us. But she wants to tackle this 'being alone' thing head-on - so she's spending her 11 days off alone. Friends to see, things to do. Sleeping when she wants to, crying when she needs to. She'll be fine.

More soon - probably not until we get home from Disneyland. The 2nd surprise for the kids will be revealed when we meet my sister P. and her husband at the Rain Forest Cafe tomorrow night for dinner. The kids have NO IDEA their beloved aunt & uncle are joining us from Arizona - and are going to be even MORE excited when they see them. I can't wait and WILL have the camera ready for those shots!