Christmas and such

Well Christmas has come and gone and it has just been a weird year for me. I know that Christmas is about the birth of our Savior and that the gifts and the stores and all the hustle and bustle isn't important but this year I guess I was kind of hung up on all of it. Last year was just so wonderful and so perfect. We spent Christmas with my parents for the first time since our first year married last year and it just made my Christmas. This year it just couldn't happen and it was sad for me because I loved last year so much. We all did, even Shad loved Christmas last year. This year we had no money till the very last moment and even that we came by in a strange way, our loan fell through and we had to scramble to get something else lined up, I didn't get my table :(, and the project that I worked on all year culminating in hours and hours spent on it these last few weeks just wouldn't work! I so wanted to get them out before Christmas but I just couldn't get them done. Everything kept going wrong with them. Christmas day I spent crying over them and made my Mom feel bad too I think(which just really makes me sad) The one that I was able to finish is not at all what I pictured when I started the whole thing. Anyway...at the risk of sounding depressing(oh wait...too late for that, huh?) I just had an off year. The kids still had a great year I think but I think both Shad and I just weren't feeling it this year. It was a stressful time. In the end it all worked out(except for my Christmas project, that is)
My favorite part of Christmas though, I have to say, has to be the releasing of the toys....why, you might ask, do I say "release". Well, I feel that most toys are in bondage in their packaging. After cutting, pulling, tugging, forcing etc things out of their packaging my hands are so sore I feel like I need to have a manicure....Why must they package these things like that??? Barbie's are the worst...Barbie's and anything associated with them...they totally suck! When you think you have cut every wire and string you go to pull it out and find it is still stuck somewhere!!! It is so frustrating! I spent the majority of my morning and into my afternoon just freeing these toys from their imprisonment....then worked on the "project from heck" running into yet more problems....I spent time with each of the girls though, explaining some of their toys to them or playing with them or reading with them...it was fun. The spending time with the kids part. And I freed so many of the less fortunate imprisoned toys! LOL

Paige just has a death wish though...she got the things she asked for except for a doll which she has already gotten plenty of in her life so we were not about to get her another one...the twins both got babies and the stuff that goes with them, ie; a play yard, stroller, swing combo..she is constantly taking their stuff. Now, there is nothing we hate worse than having the twins fighting over dumb toys so we duplicated everything..so there would be no fighting. But they are still screaming because Paige is always taking their stuff!!!!!! ARGH! So anyway when she was not stealing their babies she was busily stealing their Dora lego's or their dress up stuff...pretty much everything they got she felt she needed...and she just WILL NOT play with her own stuff! Why does that child want me to want to end her short existence?? Why??? I love her so much but I tell ya..sometimes I just do not like her very much at all. We had the missionaries over this afternoon and they gave us a little lesson...she talked, squirmed, said dumb things, rolled around on the floor..the whole time! I just do not know why she feels she has to do this stuff...Oh well...the girls enjoyed the missionaries which was good. I enjoy them, the spirit they bring into a home. When I grew up we always had missionaries over and I wish my kids could have that experience..they bring such a special spirit into the home.

No pictures yet because I just haven't gotten to them. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I really hope I can change my attitude about the whole thing. I have been worrying about us, worrying about some of my extended family members, worrying about my still unfinished project....I need to focus on the Lord and the miracle of Christmas. That Jesus was born of such humble birth. That he came here to later sacrifice his life for me. Because he came I can be forgiven, I can make mistakes. Christmas is about him...about the miracle of his humble birth and the glory of his life. It doesn't matter how many gifts are under the tree or the number of batches of cookies in the oven....all that matters is how I choose to live my life. I need to remember that and get over the commercialism I seem focused on this year. We had a wonderful Christmas. The girls did a live nativity with their cousin. It was the first year that There were 3 queens and female shepherds but they did what they could with an all female cast, not to mention Becca stealing the baby Jesus...it all was how it should have been and will be remembered for many years to come.

To family and friends who read this blog, thanks for your interest in our lives.

To my Mom, thanks for being my friend. There were many years when I wondered if I would ever feel that way about you. I do. I am grateful for you in my life and I hope that you know that I consider you friend. Thanks for making me the mother that I am today. I make mistakes, I am human. We all are and we all do but your intentions were always good and I try to make that my goal as well. Ok....I have waxed sentimental...better quit...later...

Comments

Thanks for the fact that we are friends. A little strange to me also as growing up we were always colliding but maybe that is why we get along now!

Happy New Year and may 2008 be kind to us all!

MOM