A Memorable December...

WOW!! It's been 14 days since I last wrote a blog! But what is so exciting is that I vowed to myself I wouldn't write a sentence in my blog during the holidays while all the grandparents were here and although it was difficult, I was able to be true to my word (it was just an internal vow, but I still felt good about not breaking my own promise!)

Now that I am biting at the bit, I don't know where to begin :)

First and foremost, I can say that the family time we had together during December was amazing and much needed. Kyle (our 17 year old son) is usually at church, work or concurrent at school, so we get very little quality time with him. I always take three weeks off from schooling Adam and Victoria, so it was 100% playtime in our house! Here are some of the highlights of our three week sabbatical:

* 3-4 hours of game playing everyday (one day we spent 4 hours playing Monopoly!)
* Candlelight dinner together every evening till Christmas Day
* Watched movies that made us laugh and cry together
* Incredible brunch at Bellini's - highly recommend this restaurant!
* Shopped till our money was all gone :)
* We visited Walmart everyday for 8 days in a row - we're going to add this to our 12 days of Christmas for next year - haha!
* Awesome girl time while we all got new hairdo's!
* The men enjoyed two hours of listening to different muffler sounds on old trucks on YouTube - they laughed hysterically!
* Baked and baked and then ate enough sugar to last us all year long (although I did make a healthy honey apple pie and honey cinnamon rolls :)
* Reminisced at pictures taken during the 2010 year - amazed at how the kids have changed
* Met daddy for lunch while he was on his break at Iguana's - love their salsa!
* Experienced the Bricktown Water Taxi while it was 70 degrees and gorgeous - then treated everyone to Toby Keiths for dinner!
* Drove around town for two hours looking at Christmas lights at Chesapeake and gorgeous Nicholas Hills
* Stayed up until the wee morning hours just catching up on each others lives
* Slept in so late many mornings that we only had to eat two meals!!
* Scrolled through my Facebook to show everyone all my photo albums - we really did a lot in one year!

Most importantly, we talked, laughed, cried, talked, laughed and talked some more.

Everyone is gone now...including the two dogs we were pet sitting and the house is back in order. The amount of clutter and disarray from having eight people living in the same house for 14 days is incredible. Funny thing is, I wouldn't have changed a thing. I have learned to relax in the midst of chaos to enjoy what really matters - people not perfection.

I pray your holidays were festive and that you made memories that can be talked about for years and years to come.

Thanks for letting me share...it's been a joy :)