December draws to a close

Merry Belated Christmas!

I'm not sure who (if anyone) {random note..there's a Meow Mix commercial playing as I write this...man I miss summer camp!} reads this anymore but if you're reading I hope your Christmas was as much of a blessing for you as mine was for me. Of course Santa was wonderful and we got great gifts (a high chair for Joey and a new computer for Mommy and Daddy were tops on the list) but the greatest gift of all came to us back in August.

This was my first Christmas away from "home." Towards the beginning of the month I was NOT excited about not being able to go to my parents' house for Christmas. Don't get me wrong...I really enjoy going to Junction. But it wasn't "home". Then in talking to my dad he helped me to realize that "home" isn't necessarily a place and "Christmas" doesn't have to be on December 25th. When I changed my attitude everything else started to change (amazing how that happens...). My parents came down on the 20th to have Christmas at our house. They even kept Joey for an evening so Daniel and I could go out for an night without him for the first time (that was nice!). We all had a nice weekend relaxing together and we did our "Christmas" on Sunday when Daniel was able to be off and Michael/Skipper was able to come down. We all enjoyed our gifts but I think we enjoyed the company more. Then Christmas Eve my family went back to Plano. Daniel, Joey and I had our own little Christmas celebration (I got some WAY COOL scrapbooking software!) and then we headed for Junction. I was surprised at myself that I wasn't upset/angry/frustrated about not being "home". YAY! When everyone got to Junction we headed for the Christmas Eve Candlelight service. It was really neat for me because I'd never been to one before. We heard lots of readings from the Gospels and sang tons of Christmas carols in this tiny (well, tiny to me) little country church. At one point Joey started crying so I took him to the back and got him to sleep. I sat down again as the candle lighting started towards the end. As Daniel and I sat together in a pew singing "What Child Is This?" I had one of those "this is what my life is all about...how blessed am I?!?" moments. WOW! I wish I could put into words what I felt when I realized that all my life-long heart's desires are coming true. Right before my very eyes. What a blessing. For the first time I truly understood and appreciated the TRUE meaning of Christmas. Wow. Merry Christmas to me.

Now the gifts are put away (almost), the house is clean (well...kinda) and we're back to everyday normal life. I'm still deciding if I want to make New Year's resolutions. I always seem to break them but there are so many things I'd like to better about myself. Maybe I'll make them and call them "goals" instead of resolutions. We'll see...goals seem so much more attainable. I'll have to think on that one a little...