The Christmas season really was too short this year. Last year I enjoyed every moment of baking, shopping, making gifts and care packages, the music, the smells, everything. This year, I am sad to say I felt like everything was a checklist. I had 2 1/2 weeks from Thanksgiving until we went on extended vacation to get everything done. We went to Georgia Dec.17th for Jeremy's sister, Courtney's wedding til New Years Eve. From there, we went to Tucson for a couple of days, but that is a different posting. Back to before Christmas, our little family had “Christmas morning” here in Flagstaff before we left (I wasn't going to haul a play kitchen and Fisher Price dinosaur through the airport. Santa has his limitations.) The crowning accomplishments of this year were a Grandma brag book that I made for my mom and 8 paper dolls with 2 outfits each for 2 of Makayla's friends. Both gifts turned out so cute and nothing says Merry Christmas like a homemade gift. I still did get my share of baking. Eight loaves of pistachio bread, 4 batches of toffee, a chocolate eclair cake, and a chocolate cheesecake later we had enough goodies to go around. (That was all made in 2 days.) Once we finished with our Flagstaff festivities off we went to GA. (Did I mention that it was snowing buckets when we left. I was so jealous that they would have a white Christmas while we were gone. And they did!)
The girls did fabulous on the plane. Makayla loved take-off and landing. She said after take off, "Cool! Again please! Kaya, do it again!" Grandma Morriss had bought us a DVD player which she watched "Cars" intently for most of the time and then colored for the rest. I tell you what, I am sold on portable DVD players for young travelers! I don't know who enjoyed it more, Makayla or her parents! Natty slept and played and slept and played. They did wonderfully.
The wedding was beautiful. Courtney made a gorgeous bride and John is a keeper, even if he teases his sisters-in-law. Again, Makayla had a blast at the reception. From Courtney's "pretty dress", to the dancing, dancing, dancing, to the goodies at the refreshment table (I don't even want to know how much candy that child consumed that night) she was in her happy place.
Then on to Christmas. Oops! Not quite yet! What would a vacation be without a visit to the Urgent Care Center? Makayla got a massive cold/ear infection/double pink eye invasion 2 days before Christmas. Nothing that antibiotics didn't cure, but fun all the same. We were all blessed that we didn't contract pink eye. Jeremy did get Makayla's cold that he still is battling almost 3 weeks later.
OK, on to Christmas. Wow, I really am speechless. It was great to be with family. The girls racked it in, of course. However, I am sad to say I felt extremely hollow. Perhaps it was that my "checklist" was completed and I was exhausted. Or the fact, that we had already had Christmas in Flagstaff so I felt somewhat of a "closure" of the holiday. But I realized way too late that I focused on "things" too much this year. Giving "things," getting "things" done, and going to "things" superseded the One that I owe my whole life to. I hadn't taken enough time to focus on the life and mission of my Savior and rededicating my life to emulate his. This troubled me terribly and I am afraid to say I was somewhat of a grump on Christmas. I have since then tried to ponder how to change this upcoming year.
Well, saying that I am not saying the trip was a bust, quite the opposite. Jeremy and I had dates together. Free family babysitting is fabulous! Bowling with Courtney and John, going to the temple with Carrie and Brian, playing games with Christy and James, and just being able to leave without our children and all of their paraphernalia was an amazing feeling of freedom. Thanks Grandma, Grandpa, and Kelley, you are the best! There were also trips to a couple of parks, to the swimming pool, and Grandpa's birthday party where Makayla was obsessed with his birthday cake and became a broken record of “I some more birfday cake.” We had a wonderful time!
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