Is it 2008 already?!

It's nigh unto half-way through January and I still can't figure out how it got to be 2008. As far as I'm concerned, we need to go back and re-play Christmas! It was a weird bunch of holidays in my estimation.

We did the same things we always do for the most part....Christmas Eve service at church (our family lit the Christ Candle on the advent wreath and I'm still wondering if anyone got a picture of it) and then we went to Eric's parents' for our tradition...cheese and crackers, bean soup, cuban sandwiches, deviled crab(yuck), and stuffed potatoes (a very Cuban twist on Christmas...we are in Tampa, after all). Then on Christmas Day, we opened presents at home, went to Erics' parents and opened presents, then stopped in to have Christmas with my Grandma Reese and Aunt Marlene. We were back home before 9, which was lovely.

So then our annual New Year's Party was a bust on so many levels. The night before, we had a couple of friend's of the boys' over for the night and so I'm at home with 5 children and my step-dad calls to see if I can pick my mom up in Orlando. She was on her way home from visiting my brother in Alaska and he felt too puny to go get her from the airport. So I dropped off four of the kids with the mother of the other boys and Rachael and I headed off for Orlando. Gram's flight was somewhere around 1 hour late getting in and then I messed up trying to navigate a strange city after dark while talking to Eric on the cell phone. I ended up on a toll road (not difficult to do in Orlando) and we stopped for dinner at an Applebee's where they were seating too many tables in the section where we were seated. Our poor waitress was doing a fantastic job of staying afloat, but she was still overworked. So that took a while. Fortunately, we had already made plans not to have our annual bonfire because the weather was far too warm, so we moved venues to Randy and Twila's house. Good thing! By the time I got my mom dropped off in Zephyrhills and got back to Tampa, it was 20 minutes till eleven. So I had a some drink or other (whatever Randy handed me....I don't remember) and we rang in the New Year with Dick (Clark). Kissed all my kids, kissed my honey, it was lovely. Slept in the next day and didn't even go to the New Year's Party at Claude and Dawn's house. Don't remember why we bowed out of that one.

So here it is two weeks later and I feel like the holidays didn't really happen. Maybe it's because the tree was only decorated on about the top 2-1/2 feet. (Rachael and Seth pulled off all the low ornaments.) Maybe it's because I couldn't put presents under the tree because they all came to be unwrapped in very short order. (Rachael figured it out in no time flat.) Maybe it's because it was regularly 90 degrees in the weeks leading up to and including the holidays. It just didn't seem holiday-ish to me this year. Very strange. Very annoying. It wasn't that I was unhappy or overwhelmed or stressed. It just didn't seem holiday-ish. Perhaps it's the economy, stupid. Maybe it's because we weren't funded for all sorts of fun and exciting presents this year. (The boys only got four things from Mom and Dad beside their Santa stuff (which wasn't a whole lot).

But the cool thing came this past Saturday. We finally got to do Christmas with my family. My parents got the kids a Wii! It's so cool! We all love it! Eric and I also got two of those digital picture frames. They're neat. But the Wii takes the cake! I like it a lot! Heck with the boys...I don't know if I'l let them play it!

So anyhow...life goes on...I forgot to post that the Saturday (or the Sunday?) after Thanksgiving, Randy and Twila told us that they would be moving back to Texas to pursue a business opportunity that was just too good not to go after. So I'm sad about that.

I directed the Children's Musical at church called "Cookin' Up Christmas" and it was so much of a success I just can't tell you. Well, I could, but it would take a long time and it's time to chase the young'uns to bed so it'll have to be another post.

And that reminds me...many friends I know have made resolutions to post more in 2008. I will not make that resolution because it will be broken very shortly. I generally don't make new year resolutions. I figure that if something is important enough to change that I need to change it right away and not wait for January 1st. I'm also not one to say, "That's something I'll do when the children are grown," or "I'll get to that when I'm not quite so busy." The fact of the matter is that I'll either be a lazy slob when the children are grown or I'll be just as busy as I am these days, which means there'll never be a time when I'm not so busy!

I have no resolutions except that I will proofread my postings as long as I'm not writing them right before I should be putting the kids to bed.

So I hope there aren't too many errors and that you at least get the gyst of what I'm trying to say, but, oh well, I've gotta go be the heavy!

Much love,
Julie