Tis the Season

Yesterday, we dropped the boys off at my parents house and headed out to dinner with my brother, sister in law, sister, & brother in law. This is the 4th year in a row that we've been able to do this fun evening, my parents have all the little grandkids (12 & under), while the parents go out to dinner & then we all leave each other to go finish our Christmas business. We had a fun dinner at a steak place & then headed home to wrap up our presents. We are 99% done. Thats quite an accomplishment considering that we have 3 boys, I think. And, today I was able to finish up the wrapping for everyone else, too. For once, I will not be scrambling on Christmas day to get the wrapping done for my nieces & family.
Unfortunately, we woke this morning to no water in our 1st floor bathroom. It seems to have frozen over night. We've had heaters running for the entire day & no luck. The pipes are built into the walls. To get to them, we will have to cut out the walls. Christmas is in 3 days. And, we are having about 25 people over for Christmas eve festivities. Just our luck, of course. And, the beautiful Christmas lights and display that my hubby spent 2 days working on has pretty much been torn to shreads by the extreme wind we've been experiencing.
Also, we decided for some unforseen reason to bring over several more totes and bags full of stuff from our old house that now has to be sorted & put away. The office is a disaster. There's stuff everywhere. And, my cleaning lady (that used to clean for us to pay her rent), quit. The dreams I had of enjoying the days before Christmas are pretty much shattered. Cookies, forgetaboutit. Toilet cleaning & mopping, here I come. What fun, what joy.
On a bright note, I've gotten to spend the weekend w/my family, which I don't do very often. Yesterday, w/my siblings & today, w/kids & everybody out at my brother's house for an impromptu chili supper. I wish so much that we lived closer, it took me over an hour to drive there tonight. I would love to be able to see my mom & dad more often, to be able to pop in & say hi, but that's kindof hard when its a major ordeal to get there. Thank goodness for phone calls & email, but its still not totally the same. Feeling a little melon-colly tonight, I guess.
At least my Christmas star is turning, I can just look at that & smile each time remembering Christmases past. I used to beg my mom & dad to let me sleep in the living room & I would just watch that star, the patterns on the walls & ceilings. Now, I have one of my own. So do my brother & sister. How many families do you know that have a thing for disco ball Christmas stars? Probably not many. But, its Christmas to us.
Goodnight, star.

The Christmas Procession

Today, my mother in law & I went to the 8am mass at our Church. My 2nd grader was to be part of the procession at the beginning of mass & he wore a bright blue blanket around his shoulders as a cape, so it had to be a good one, right? It was absolutely amazing. The children behaved beautifully. They walked in telling a very short version of the order of people in the bible "Adam & Eve,...Moses...Joseph & his 11 brothers..." all the way down to Mary & Joseph carrying the baby. My son came in as the father of Joseph, and was so serious about his job! It was so amazingly cute that I could hardly stand it. They are growing up right before our eyes, as another blogger wrote so appropriately about the other day (thank you, Helene, for a nice blog to remember that they are only little for such a short time). Anyhow, during mass we were able to sit with my boys, and the priest gave just an amazing sermon geared toward the children. I love this priest's masses because he really talks to his audience and makes it interesting for them. He had a present that he opened, with all the brew-ha-ha, making a mess w/the paper, having trouble w/the box, etc. But the present inside was a statue of Jesus and he reminded everyone that the best present of all was the present of Jesus.
Just wanted to say, Happy Birthday, Jesus. Thanks for all of my gifts, even if I seem like I'm not grateful, I truely am.

I'm Dreaming of Disney

We are, admittedly, a Disney crazy family. We are members of the Disney Vacation Club, which is a time share type deal, so we go to Disney fairly often. Within a 12 month span ending in April, we went 3 times. But, we love it. Our kids love it. We love to stay at the Beach Club Villas, which is the resort our time share is based from. You can walk to Epcot or MGM from our door, the pool is the coolest ever, we get a villa room which is basically an apartment, we love the extra magic hours so we can stay late when most of the crowd leaves. We know the times of year to go when the crowds are sparse and the lines are short. Now is that time of year. We went last Christmas time. Now, I'm not saying to go for Christmas, but the 2 weeks BEFORE Christmas. This is the time when its slow. And, Disney does everything cool. Especially Christmas. Walking down Main street at night w/the fake snow flakes. MGM & their amazing light displays. Special nights w/cookies & hot cocoa. Ugh, I'm dreaming.
Unfortunately, fate & our income has taken a not so nice turn lately & its going to take a virtual miracle to pull us out of this one. Nights like tonight, when I get an email from Disney reminding me how amazing it is there, I just ache. I feel like I've put us into this bind. This damn head injury. I'm in a field that isn't going to be affected by the economy, and I can't work. My family could be going to Disney, or anywhere else for that matter, if I just worked. What does that say about me? Have I let it all just fall under the bus? I keep praying, and hoping, that there's going to be a day where I wake up and my confidence in myself is restored. I was damn good at what I did, and I liked doing it. And, if I can't work, why can't just 1 house sell that we have on the market? Just 1 for now, that would get us through this.
I'm not trying to be self pitying. It just sucks for so many people this year and it makes it very hard to be in this situation.
So, to end this, I'm going to say a prayer in writing. "Please, Lord, let us find some way to come through this trying time. And, help the people all of the United States that are unsure where their next job/meal/house is going to be. I know that we can do it, just a nudge?"

SNOW!

Yes, it has snowed outside. Just a dusting, mind you, maybe a half inch, but snow none the less. My youngest woke up this morning and said "Mom, its snow! Berry Christmas!". I don't have the heart to correct him, Berry Christmas is just about the cutest thing he could say, of course. There's just something about looking out the window to snow, it makes everything pretty. Our old carriage house, that has seen better days, looks so pretty covered in white. I love it!
My oldest is home today, covered in a rash from head to toe. I have no idea what its from. We have done nothing different, same soap, etc. Yet, last night he said his neck was bumpy and when I checked him out, yep, he's covered in red bumps everywhere. He's itchy, and sleeping for now thanks to the dose of benadryl that I gave him a little while ago. So, off to the doctor's again. If I don't call his nurses every couple of weeks they miss me, you know. It feels like I talk to them more than I talk to some of my girlfriends, but thats how it is when you have 3 boys.
So, Happy December. May the season bring happiness and a little bit of good fortune.

Thankful

I'm thankful for so many things this year, but here's a few:
-My children, who are the most amazing boys in the entire world. They are all 3 so different:
--my oldest, the wise old soul with his mom's soft heart, smart as a whip, generous, loving, and such a good big brother
--my middle son, my little ball of fire, who loves and gets angry to the extreme. Not everything comes easy but he'll work his tail off if he wants it. Ladies man, goof ball, loves all things army
--my youngest, my baby. 3 years old and thinks he can do everything his brothers do. So headstrong, so bullheaded, quite the dancer (he can do the white man boogie, I'll tell you). Perhaps I baby him too much because I'll never have more, but too bad.
-My husband, who of course gave me my 3 amazing boys. Who's loved me, and grown up with me, for the last 20 years. My best friend, the love of my life
-My house. Its great to be in here finally even as I type in a sea of boxes because my office is the last room to be unpacked. My hubby did an amazing job w/the lights out front and I'm getting started inside. Its going to be beautiful.
-A very uneventful, lazy Thanksgiving day. It was so low key, and delicious. No stress, good food, good family.
-A healthy family. More surgeries this year for my Pop, but looks better than in a long time. My mom's doing well. Brother's & sister's families all good. We had a great Thanksgiving on Saturday w/my family & I really enjoyed it, my nieces are getting so big. Also, my family on hubby's side, I have a great mother in law & her family has embraced me as one of their own.
-Hope for a better financial future. I have a gut feeling there's light at the end of the horizon.
-A great parish and school for my kids, fun for ourselves w/families we're friends with.

Just a glimpse, for sure. I'm thankful for so much more.
Happy Thanksgiving

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas!

The process has begun. Yes, my friend, we have started decorating this large house. This morning I went with the guys that work for us into our storage and found several, actually over a truck full, of decorations. And, since it was a sunny day (but extremely cold), we started on the outside. My hubby could easily be called Clark Griswald, of the Christmas Vacation fame.
Also, I have to say, this house is beautiful. It is old, and Victorian, and looks amazing with Christmas lights outlining the exterior. And, we have a Santa sleigh and reindeer parked on the side roof. And the entire widow's walk is lined with light up 3 foot candy canes. It gives me chills that this is actually where we call home after all of these years. We have owned this house for 8 years, and this is our first Christmas in it.
Tonight, I went through several of the totes with inside decorations. I have a pretty cool collection of Santa Clauses, I must say. I have a thing for unusual Santa's. And I love snowglobes. Of course, 1 was broken. It never fails because we have so many things stacked up in the storage area.
My 3 year old is totally getting into the whole Christmas thing. He told me Merry Christmas several times as we were outside, watching Daddy on the roof. And, as I was opening things, his excitement was wonderful. This is what its all about. The wonderment and awe in a child during Christmas time is so cool. My 7 year old was walking around with his Santa hat, as cute as ever.
Last year I purchased our first ever fake tree. So, I can actually get my tree up over the next few days and it will still look amazing on Christmas day! I do love a real tree, but the ease of a fake one is just too much to fight with anymore.
So, Happy Christmas season, ye ol' blog. May the good times roll.

My Son, the Musician

My oldest son's class has started learning how to play the recorder. Its a small wind instrument that is often the starting point for music lessons for children. So, for the last week or so he's been bringing it home to practice. Now, don't get me wrong. I love the fact that he's taking up an instrument, the best I can do is pretend to hum a few lines of a song. And, even that's not on the right key. So, he's now learned 3 notes. And, he plays those 3 notes over. And over. And over. I would never say anything negative to him about it. But, I'm going to crack. Thank goodness bedtime is in an hour.
Now, onto other business. Before I get too interrupted, I realize that its been quite some time since I've last posted (sorry, Mom, even though you're my only reader). We actually finally moved into our big house. Its not a mansion or even as big as my sister's house, buts its bigger for us. It has 3 floors, so you can bet my butt is starting to improve. And, until Friday, my washer & dryer were still across the street at the other house. For a family of 5, thats alot of trips across the street for me to do laundry. Often, at 8 or 9 at night, none the less. But, tonight I put my first load of laundry in the basement here and I have to tell you it was bliss. Pure and simple. Crazy that something as simple as going into the basement to do laundry vs running across the street in 30 degree weather can make me so happy, but it does. So, now that I can do laundry and cook here, life is good. Which is a stretch for me to say, sometimes I have a hard time with day to day life. But, we went to breakfast w/my mom & dad (today my dad is 69 years old, and you can bet thats not being lost w/my dad. My mom's going to be hearing about that for the next 12 months), then to an awful Rams game, then to my middle son's soccer game, then home to filets that hubby grilled. Not bad, I must say myself.
do, do, do, do, do, do, do....(thats the best I can say for the sounds coming out of my son's instrument right now)....I'm going to be hearing that in my dreams.