^^^^^ "helping" put up Christmas lights^^^^^
I know I’ve mentioned it here before, but I just love the holidays and this year, like most years, we tried to wring every last drop of fun and merriment out of them. Seems like we had something going on from early December until just a few days ago.
I had a girlfriend visit from Michigan for a few days before Christmas, and she left just in time to celebrate O’s birthday on the 23rd. (He was sick with some sort of virus, but my lemon pound cake seemed to make him feel somewhat better.)
Christmas Eve I made pies and we spent the evening at my mom and dad’s opening gifts and eating too much. Christmas Day was crazy busy – a yummy breakfast and opening presents at O’s parents’ house, Christmas lunch for my parents and cousin at our house, and then a couple of hours of “down time” before our yearly Christmas Day Open House. We had about 25 – 30 people come to talk, laugh, and watch “Christmas Vacation”.
Yet another girlfriend arrived from Ohio for a week on the 27th, and in the meantime my FIL was hospitalized for several days. (He’s home now and doing better.)
New Year’s Eve I had yet another girlfriend visit for a few days. Once our Ohio guest was delivered safely to the airport, we were ready for some solitude, just me & O. I hurriedly put away our houseful of decorations (7 trees are fun to put up – grim to take down), and I had one day to immerse myself in pre-National Championship festivities before our beloved football team played on Thursday.
We had our dear friends over for the game and though I did not enjoy the game at all until the end we WON we WON we WON.
The day after our big win, O and I drove to the location of the college, got some lunch, wandered around near campus and did some shopping, and generally enjoyed the festive atmosphere with some seriously excited fans. We even drove out to the airport to welcome the team home, but it was about 10 degrees and incredibly windy, so we decided to avoid pneumonia and watch it on TV. Such a fun day though. We hope to return for the parade/celebration this coming weekend, depending on the weather.
I can say with all honestly that during the holidays, I did absolutely nothing on the foster/adopt front. Didn’t look at our state website, or other state’s websites or heart galleries. I didn’t even think about it really. It wasn’t a conscious decision, but in retrospect, I don’t think I was willing to tarnish that wonderful time of the year by spending any time focusing on what we don’t have, because we have so, so much.
Now, though, my plan is to throw myself into the search whole-heartedly – to make the search my “job” for the next few months to see what eventuates. I can’t put a date on it, but my feeling is that if we don’t have a child in our home by the end of the year, we’ll call it quits and get on with our lives.
I had a girlfriend visit from Michigan for a few days before Christmas, and she left just in time to celebrate O’s birthday on the 23rd. (He was sick with some sort of virus, but my lemon pound cake seemed to make him feel somewhat better.)
Christmas Eve I made pies and we spent the evening at my mom and dad’s opening gifts and eating too much. Christmas Day was crazy busy – a yummy breakfast and opening presents at O’s parents’ house, Christmas lunch for my parents and cousin at our house, and then a couple of hours of “down time” before our yearly Christmas Day Open House. We had about 25 – 30 people come to talk, laugh, and watch “Christmas Vacation”.
Yet another girlfriend arrived from Ohio for a week on the 27th, and in the meantime my FIL was hospitalized for several days. (He’s home now and doing better.)
New Year’s Eve I had yet another girlfriend visit for a few days. Once our Ohio guest was delivered safely to the airport, we were ready for some solitude, just me & O. I hurriedly put away our houseful of decorations (7 trees are fun to put up – grim to take down), and I had one day to immerse myself in pre-National Championship festivities before our beloved football team played on Thursday.
We had our dear friends over for the game and though I did not enjoy the game at all until the end we WON we WON we WON.
The day after our big win, O and I drove to the location of the college, got some lunch, wandered around near campus and did some shopping, and generally enjoyed the festive atmosphere with some seriously excited fans. We even drove out to the airport to welcome the team home, but it was about 10 degrees and incredibly windy, so we decided to avoid pneumonia and watch it on TV. Such a fun day though. We hope to return for the parade/celebration this coming weekend, depending on the weather.
I can say with all honestly that during the holidays, I did absolutely nothing on the foster/adopt front. Didn’t look at our state website, or other state’s websites or heart galleries. I didn’t even think about it really. It wasn’t a conscious decision, but in retrospect, I don’t think I was willing to tarnish that wonderful time of the year by spending any time focusing on what we don’t have, because we have so, so much.
Now, though, my plan is to throw myself into the search whole-heartedly – to make the search my “job” for the next few months to see what eventuates. I can’t put a date on it, but my feeling is that if we don’t have a child in our home by the end of the year, we’ll call it quits and get on with our lives.
Who knows.
