Saturday, December 31, 2011

Not exactly relaxing

It's been a very nice break, but not at all relaxing. And I am not one bit pleased that the kids have to go back to school on the 2nd. I can't believe the district isn't waiting until Tuesday! My husband's district was supposed to be moving into their new high school over this break, but that isn't happening. He doesn't see his students again until the 17th...hard to believe! I'm sure we'll enjoy our time together, but that's going to be a lot of time together without the kids.

Anyway, I think partly because it's been rather short, the break hasn't been relaxing. Not stressful necessarily, just very, very busy. The kids first day off I attended a funeral for a friend's mother. I hadn't planned to spend the day not being able to clean my house and get things ready for the holiday, but of course there was no where else I would have been. And I also got to visit with one of my best friends who came down from Chicago to be there. The next day my husband was also off, and we continued cleaning the house, but most importantly we went to the grocery to prepare for our big feast. My mother had used a gift card to purchase the turkey breast we were having, and I also had to drive the 40 minutes to get it from her. Christmas Eve we managed to sleep in and attended mass at 7:00 in the evening. Unfortunately Father wasn't even there at 7:00 in order to get started. It was nearly 9:00 by the time we were home, and our Christmas Eve tradition is to give the kids new jammies as their gift from us. We also read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and it was 9:30 before everyone was in bed. My husband and I were up until Midnight doing some more cleaning and of course being Santa. The kids were up and at 'em at 7:30 Christmas morning, and everyone was very, very pleased with their gifts. We enjoyed some cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then I began the process of organizing our gifts and continuing to clean the house while my husband began cooking our dinner. We had a wonderful Christmas evening with my parents, sister, grandmother and aunt. My father's favorite gift was a photo book I'd made for him of him and the kids fishing the very last time we were all able to spend the day at the lake. It was nearly 8:00 before everyone left that evening, and I still had to get everyone packed and things ready to hit the road for my in-laws the next day. We were able to do lots of visiting with friends while we were there as well, and hit the road for home just in time to meet up back here with our friends who had moved west 18 months ago before they left the next day. Yesterday I spent the day cleaning and organizing (not to mention unpacking) because we were supposed to host our local friends for New Year's eve eve. I was fine until late afternoon, when my body just began screaming "yuck!", and that's pretty much where my body stayed for the rest of the evening. We had to cancel our plans and I spent the evening medicated and in bed. I feel better this morning, although I have some concerns about our plans for the evening. I guess we'll just see what the day brings. Through it all, the kids have been enjoying late bedtimes, and of course have been enjoying all of the wonderful gifts (and lots and lots of attention) from all of their loved ones. It's so hard to believe how quickly they are growing...in just six years JR will be finishing up high school. It just doesn't seem possible!

Happy New Year everyone...may you all be blessed with much happiness and good health!

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