Still Alive. Still Breathing.

Contrary to popular belief, I have not fallen behind the desk again. But actually yesterday I did hide behind it for just a moment's refuge. Nope. Just kidding.

I am still here.

Sadly, I still have not found all that time I lost several months ago. I am beginning to think I won't. I have meant to blog lately, every day in fact, but it just hasn't happened. Not out of laziness or not caring. Just out of busyness. Life has been busy - a new kind of busy I have not experienced before. The kind of busy that keeps you going all day long without ever leaving the house. The kind of busy where at the end of the day you decide for certain that you never really did sit in a chair. The kind of busy that makes your shoulders droop when the clock finally reads 11:30 pm and there are still no less than 20 things - important things - that did not get done (those would usually be the same 20 from the day before). It is a happy busy. It is not without its difficulties and trials and mess-ups, but it is happy. It is a blessed busy. But busy nonetheless.

One problem is that one of the 20 things that does not get done day after day is a blog entry. And it breaks my heart because I miss sharing with my dear friends and receiving the warmth of your friendship in return. In hopes of working in a little more blogging, as well as the other 19 things, I have been rereading A Mother's Rule of Life. Good idea, Melissa. Things are still in the planning stages.

I think another thing that has kept me from blogging much is the fact I've missed so much. I feel this nagging desire to catch you up on everything, when in reality that is unnecessary. But instead of paralyzing myself because of this, I will only offer a brief synopsis and move on. Better to be back without the details than not be back at all.

Our holiday was awesome!

We had many wonderful times spent with family and friends.

* The Saturday before Christmas we got together with Robin's gang for our annual Christmas celebration. Robin did such a lovely job of preparing all kinds of lovely "party" food. We all had so much fun.

* Sunday, the 23rd, was Jacob's birthday and we had a great time celebrating at home that evening with his grandparents and TWO lemon pies!

* On Christmas Eve, we were supposed to spend the day with Brian's parents and have Christmas with them, but his dad was still a bit under the weather. So we stayed home and did stuff around the house and attended a lovely Mass that evening. After the Vigil Mass we had our annual Christmas Eve Family Tamale Feast. There were tamales (of course) and nachos and chips and salsa and queso and tortillas. It was a fun time.

* Christmas morning was by far my favorite part of the whole season. Brian and I had stayed up very late the night before waiting for Santa, but by the time we rolled in bed we were really prepared for the day ahead. Christmas morning was a joyous time - unhurried, happy, peaceful and full of joy and fun. I loved it! We spent the rest of the day with my family at my parents house. It was so nice to all be together.

* The day after Christmas we had Christmas with Brian's parents. We had lots of fun opening presents and eating a lovely meal. I am so glad it all worked out.

* Thursday after Christmas we spent preparing to go out of town. We headed out before dawn on Friday morning to go visit Brian's brother's family about 5 hours away. We spent two nights there. We had Christmas some more and had a lovely time. The weather was cold, but beautiful. The kids had so much fun being together as usual.

* By that Sunday after Christmas, as we were heading home, Brian was getting sick. I had already been coughing up a storm for several days but he was different. Hmmm. He spent Monday in bed. He and I rang in the New Year a little early with Target brand frozen cheesecake bites and some Beringer White Zinfandel. I had run to Target at 9:45 when I realized I had no champagne.

* New Year's Day was nothing special. Brian went to one of those little 24-hour urgent care clinics and tested positive for strep throat! Yippee! Hey, at least they didn't say "Well, it's just a virus." He got his antibiotics and a couple of days later I got some too - hopefully to ward of a possible attack of strep and maybe help my awful cough!

We spent the rest of our days until Brian returned to work (this past Monday) recovering and doing house projects and de-Christmasing the house.

Here's a little slide show.

It feels really good this week to be back to normal - school, extracurricular activities, a regular schedule for Brian. I love the holidays, but something about the normal rhythm just feels so good. I felt myself breathe a bit of a sigh as we began with our lessons on Monday morning.

I am sorry it has been so long. Now I feel that I have gotten the holidays down on paper, I can move on. I plan to be back on a regular basis, like before.

Have a beautiful day!