christmas

The joy is back!  Christmas was a blessing this year ... the kids had great joy in opening their gifts.  They seemed appreciative, thankful and happy.

Skye & Odinn were with us for Christmas morning opening of gifts ... unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a picture of all the kids together.

The best part?  Christmas Eve as I was putting the girls to bed and asking them about the meaning and importance of Christmas, Piper said “to celebrate Jesus’ birthday.”

Click here to see photos from our Christmas.

poor spike

So ... early November we had a follow-up appointment for Hunter’s last surgery. All was well with her adenoids, but while she was under they did a his-panel on her to check her immune level ... some of her levels came back a little low, so they wanted us to see an immune deficiency specialist.

We had her appointment last week, and thank God all her levels were normal. A few on the low side of normal, but completely normal. The only one he was a little concerned about was her tetanus level, so he gave her that vaccine again.

At the appointment, her chest didn’t sound good (she’s basically been sick since a couple days after her surgery), so he did a chest xray to check for pneumonia ... but all is well!

We do have a call in to see why she is so sick all of the time. Constant cough, sinus infection, etc. But praise God it’s nothing serious!

follow-up on huntie

So ... early November we had a follow-up appointment for Hunter’s last surgery.  All was well with her adenoids, but while she was under they did a his-panel on her to check her immune level ... some of her levels came back a little low, so they wanted us to see an immune deficiency specialist.

We had her appointment last week, and thank God all her levels were normal.  A few on the low side of normal, but completely normal.  The only one he was a little concerned about was her tetanus level, so he gave her that vaccine again.

At the appointment, her chest didn’t sound good (she’s basically been sick since a couple days after her surgery), so he did a chest xray to check for pneumonia ... but all is well!

We do have a call in to see why she is so sick all of the time.  Constant cough, sinus infection, etc.  But praise God it’s nothing serious!

decorating the tree

As I think is true for many adults, Christmas has lost it’s “magic.”  Christmas was, without a doubt, my favorite holiday.  The first snow, shopping for presents, wrapping, meals, family, games ... I loved everything about it.

Why is it now as a parent, I’m just rushing through everything stressed, not joyous, yet wanting it to be perfect for my children so they can feel the same magic I felt?  Who knows!

A month or so ago, I decided I needed to simplify my life.  Only do things that are great, make me feel great ... not just good (thank you Deanna Favre for this wisdom!).  That decision has been a relief to my soul ...

We went out on my birthday to get our tree from the same farm we’ve been going to for the last five years.  It’s about a half-hour drive, and needed to be done at a certain time to meet my parents for dinner.  Which of course needed to be done at a certain time, because we had a certain movie time to get to that couldn’t be too late because it would get past the girls bedtime (okay, so I’m a work in progress on this “simplify” thing!).

So we get there only to find a sign that says “Thank you for your past patronage, but we have decided to close our doors to spend more time with our family at the Holidays.”

Where do we go now?  We went to a local market that sells veggies, fruit, pumpkins, etc.  It’s freezing, the girls immediately spot the tree they want.  We get it up on the roof and high-tail it to Oak Creek for dinner!

Later that night when Curt is taking the tree down from the top of my car, he busts the driver-side mirror ... yikes!

Okay ... didn’t mean to write all that, not sure how I got started ... the purpose of this entry was to say that it was SUCH joy decorating the tree with the kids this year!  They loved it!!  And I should mention, they have not enjoyed it at all in the past.  This year, we didn’t break one bulb ... a first I think.  Even Taylor enjoyed herself, when all I was hearing previously was, “Do I have to help?”  Hunter did her part with all the non-breakables.  Piper stayed on the ladder most of the time, getting the middle of the tree.  And Wynter helped with mostly non-breakables too.

The end result?  Top third of the tree is pretty much bare (except lights) ... we lost the star/angel, so nothing on top ... we have multiple little snowmen hanging on one branch because they needed to be by their friends ... and I have “necklaces” (the bead-type garland) strangling the bottom of the tree.

In my heart?  A magical night decorating the Christmas tree.