I feel so blessed to have the kids and my husband at home with me to be able to celebrate the holiday. I feel blessed that we have jobs that I’ve been able to us to spoil our children yet another year. I feel blessed that I was able to stop work two weeks before Christmas and truly relax and enjoy the preparation with the children. We made cookies, I enjoyed wrapping a few presents a day, I had time for Christmas cards, I had time for coffee in front of the fire and the Christmas tree instead of the computer. I have had time to play games with my children every single day. We’ve learned a couple new games as a family and I have been there for them during their school breaks to hang out. I’ve been able to make them nice lunches. I was there with them to remind them to practice before their piano recital and help them to feel more confident in their music. We were able to make the newest thing, hot chocolate bombs, and they had them when they came in from the first snow of the season. I was able to let them go out and play in the snow every time they wanted to go. I was able to help them get ready and find their stuff. I was able to watch them sled and go out and take some pictures and just enjoy life. It was wonderful!
It is so nice being able to focus on them instead of my work. I constantly feel guilty that they do not get the attention that they deserve while I’m working. However if it weren’t for work we wouldn’t have what we have. We chose in this lifestyle. I hope that we are making the right choices. I hope I am there for them enough. I hope they know they mean the world to me. I hope they know how precious this time is to me with them.
I have experienced so many blessings this Christmas and I am grateful for that time. I can even see the blessing in the downtime I’m not going anywhere and doing everything at home. I do miss my family though. I still call my family my mom and dad and brother and sister. I consider their families part of my family that I miss so very much this holiday season. I love being with David and the kids. I am grateful for technology that allows us to connect via things like FaceTime in zoom. But there is no substitute for hanging out in real life and enjoying the holidays together.
I’m thankful that Ellie got two big bread with my mom this year. My mom makes the most wonderful cinnamon raisin bread before Christmas each year and this year, she taught Ellie. Ellie loves to bake and he’s really good at it. Apparently after the second batch my mom let Ellie make the third batch on her own. Ellie says she could easily make it at home now. I believe her and I’m excited that she had this time with my mom.
I’m thankful that we all got to bake sugar cookies with my mom as well. it was on this day that I learned that I could make my own sprinkles, and that meant I could make them any color I wanted, and henceforth we have teal sprinkles. What a exciting day that was for me! My mom is probably the only one we’ve spent any time leading up to Christmas. With Covid I made a choice being able to be around my mom and knowing that we weren’t going to make her sick was most important. The kids have only been allowed to play with a few people outside over the past month. I will probably keep it this way until spring time comes and the virus becomes less prevalent across the area.
A few pictures of our preparations are below
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