thanksgiving miscellany

Curly Girl and Red Head. GAH! I want to snuggle them and eat them all up.

1) We had a very nice Thanksgiving at my parents'. We stayed for two nights and it's definitely getting easier to travel with the kids now that Celia is more independent and Henry's getting older. The worst parts are the packing and unpacking.

2) For some reason, this year I felt especially thankful on Thanksgiving. Even when life gets stressful, I am so grateful to have Chris, Celia and Henry, and our families. I'm grateful that I have a good marriage. I'm grateful that my children are so beautiful, healthy, and smart. I'm grateful that our parents help us so much, and that our kids know and love their grandparents so well. I'm thankful that we have a nice house and don't have to worry about having clothes or food. I'm thankful that we have the resources, both physical and mental, to weather difficult times. I know what it's like not to have all these things because my job is to help families who struggle. I'm acutely aware that when I go home at night to all that I have, they don't. They don't get to escape their lives like I do. Yes, I wish I could stay home full time with the kids. I never seem to have time to get anything done, and there's always a list of things to do hanging over my head. But when I think about all that we have, and what I get to come home to at the end of the day, I never forget how lucky we are. Things will get easier when the kids get older. For now I'm going to try to embrace the chaos and enjoy this time with my babies, because I'm thankful to have them.

3) When we got home on Saturday, our elf Elrod was waiting for us! He brought Christmas pajamas for Celia and Henry. Every morning we find him in a new place, and Celia is excited to look for him. I was worried when she first saw him because I explained what he was all about and Celia kept looking at me skeptically and saying, "But he isn't real." Ha! She's a little too smart sometimes. So I told her that he doesn't look real during the day, he just looks like a doll, but that he's watching us and at night he comes alive and goes to the North Pole to tell Santa about us, and then comes back before we wake up. After hearing that a couple times Celia believed it and now she's really into it.

4) I've been Cyber Monday shopping tonight. Celia needed shoes, Henry could use a few things, and Pita has finally grown out of her 2T fleece sweaters.

5) Guys. Do you know what I was doing last Cyber Monday? Christmas shopping online, of course, from the hospital in labor with Henry! Ha! I have great memories of that night and now, as silly as it is, Cyber Monday will always remind me of his birth.

6) On Sunday morning, Pita and Henry Boy were playing together and Celia was showing Henry books. It was the cutest thing ever.

My heart just skipped a beat.