Friday, January 4, 2013

Doing December.

OH. MY. WORD.
Why didn't anyone tell me that December was almost over?  I hold you all responsible.  And myself.  I hold myself responsible.
December got away from me.  I usually love the holiday season, but this year it simply got away from me.  I have no excuse.  Actually, I have a lot of excuses, and they're all so valid that I don't even feel like I have to share them.

It was a month of ups and downs - extreme contentment, followed by happiness, but preceded by sadness. I don't really know how else to explain it.  I don't feel like I really got a moment to sit down, breath and enjoy it until January 1st.  Which, you don't need to be a mathematician to realize, is no longer December.   It came, and just as quickly went.

So in a tidy chronological nutshell - a recap....

My little Liam turned 3.  THREE!  More on that later.

In less shocking news, Ollie reached his 4 month mark.  I wish I could rattle off a list of brilliant things he's done, but he mostly just sucked on his hands a lot and giggled. 

My energetic and slightly unpredictable Miles was in his first ever Christmas program.  I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.  My first glimpse of him was by surprise during a young girl's solo when his tiny little head popped out from between the curtains to look at the audience.  The crowd loved it. My second glimpse was also a surprise when he walked up to the microphone all big-boy like and said a line I didn't even know he had.  Unfortunately it was in Gaelic, so I didn't understand it, but from what I can gather, it had to do with a spider. Like I mentioned, I was surprised, but a proud, tear-filled, pathetic mama surprised.

Like last year, I got to plan and organize a big Christmas event for the center that invited people from all over the community to come and enjoy an entire day of wonderful things for free.  As the center director said, "They could come with nothing, and leave with so much."  It was rewarding.  And exhausting.  And time consuming.  And in the end - worth it.

The following weekend I went away on one last fling with my dear friend Kathleen, and hopefully the first of many more adventures with my other dear friend Aileen.  It was a fabulous way to say goodbye to KC.  We saw "Rock of Ages", which was better than I ever imagined it would be after falling in love with the movie six months ago. (If you are going to make fun of me...save it for someone who cares that eighties rock music and spandex isn't cool anymore.)

Liam also had a Christmas program for school, but it was much smaller and all of the kids wore their pajamas.  Liam has been singing the songs CONTINUOUSLY...as in nonstop for weeks, so it didn't surprise me at all when he sat out on "stage" with all his friends and just stared blankly into the crowd, singing nothing, and occasionally playing with the little boy behind him.

I said goodbye to two more people in my life that I have grown to love dearly.  I wish them the best, but even more I wish they'd be in the office to greet me, laugh with me, and make me procrastinate even more on Monday.

The next day we left for Marrakesh, Morocco to meet my parents, youngest brother Isaac, and my sister-in-law Rachel.  I'll just say this - there is a lot to love about Morocco.  And if anyone needs a good Riad recommendation - I've got one.  I think saying goodbye to the staff was way harder than it should have been.  Seeing my family was great, and being warm was even greater.

On a 24 hour layover in London Dustin and I celebrated 10 years of marriage.  Between the bustle of traveling back and the relief of returning from a long trip, we nearly forgot.  But we celebrated it in style with a bottle of wine, some delicious food, and all of our babies sleeping within 10 feet of us in the same room.  Like a friend of mine said, 10 years isn't for pansies.  

Then we came home and celebrated Christmas as a family.  We wore our pajamas all day, watched movies, had a shepherd's supper, opened some presents, and celebrated Jesus' birthday.


And that takes us to January.  Did you all know January was coming and just didn't tell me? You sly dogs.

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