Christmas Recap

Well happy vacation break, y’all!

Or for some of you – I know others, like my hubby, have had to work.  I have from the 24th to the 1st off and I’ve not even sat down at a computer.

So I have plenty of ideas for writing, but haven’t taken the time to sit down and jot them down.

First off today, a little recap for my own bloggy scrapbook.  This is our 10th Christmas with triplets – and at 9 years old with Santa still in full force, it’s fun.

Last year, because Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday and church wasn’t until the evening, we hosted a Christmas Eve breakfast. It was such fun that we did it again this year. Neighbors and school friends popped over for cocoa and coffee and the kids competed in a Christmas cookie decorating competition. All the grown ups voted and I found something last minute to give the holiday winners.

Christmas Eve evening, Bray’s parents joined us for candlelight services after we spent some time over at our dear friends/neighbors. And remarkably, the kids fell asleep shortly after 9 pm which is rare even when they’re not breathlessly anticipating Santa’s arrival.

I love Christmas morning. Santa’s presents are always left unwrapped by the fireplace hearth amid the cookie and carrot crumbles from he and his reindeer. All the kids got Fitbits, little did I know how handy that heartrate monitor would be this week, along with other goodies.

Because I hosted Christmas Eve morning and was hosting Christmas lunch, we didn’t do anything fancy for breakfast. We slipped on coffee while the kids slowly opened presents, and we read the Christmas story after my mom arrived.

The biggest hits were little bit’s new car for her dolls, the baby’s camera drone, and the eldest’s stockpile of LSU gear.

After a big meal with my family, Christmas evening we popped over to Bray’s family to exchange presents with cousins. I had a splitting headache but my sister in law’s litter of puppies snuggling on us all helped everyone pep right up.

The 26th I resuscitated a Christmas trend to spend the day at my favorite spa. Spa days are a real rarity and I loved every minute of the pampering and the quiet. One of my favorite friends joined me for the day and as busy working moms we felt every minute of this gift away. The 27th we got good news from a specialist I went to see. (More on that later). Having wonderful college girls help us out for two days after Christmas enabled me a day away as well as an errand day.

But by Thursday, the baby had gotten really sick. Whenever he gets sick, his asthma flares and this was a particularly bad episode. That landed us in the doctor’s office, putting him on a concoction of breathing treatments, steroids, and z-pac.

While that meant we stayed in all day Friday and Saturday (the three of us – Bray ran to the ranch and the eldest ran to the farm with grandpa), I had a chance to Mary Poppins the house. All our Christmas décor, indoor and out, got pulled down and put away, and the house really got decluttered and monumentally better before everyone headed back to work and school.

We had a wonderful visit with more family Saturday before we headed to the farm today which is where I write from the cold and gray corner in Louisiana. Hopefully, with my head full of New Year’s posts, I’ll get them all in. (WordPress debuted a new system which is a bear to figure out so hang in there.)

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas full of giving and family and food. (Ours was maybe too full of food!)

I know a lot of us had rough 2018’s. A remarkable number of us. So we’re going to look forward in anticipation to a 2019 full of promise and restoration.