Monday, December 29, 2008

Oh Christmas Time....

Oh Christmas Time.... a wonderful time.... an oh so sick time.... in my house.  The Monday before Christmas I first felt it.  By Christmas Eve it was fully in my chest and lo and behold the whole family had a chest cough/cold/flu.  

It broke my heart when Tessa said, "Christmas isn't supposed to be like this..."  She was right of course, Christmas isn't supposed to be full of sick and yuck.  But on the flip side we were together as a family all through Christmas for the first time ever!  The last time Dan had all of Christmas (and by all I mean Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day) off Tessa was 2 weeks old.  So this Christmas was given a lot of hipe in the kids minds and in my own because it was finally going to be the Christmas that other people get to enjoy every year.  Now I look back on it as a blur because although we were sick we didn't get to just be sick, we had Christmas for us and then hosted Dan's whole family, on the weekend.  My brain didn't even feel like it worked, I tried to read receipes and made mistakes... ie. substituted sugar for flour etc.  Someone said that in a few years we won't even remember that we were all sick.   I'm not sure about that, but I do know that it was a gift to get to be together this Christmas coughs and all. 

Friday, December 19, 2008

Sweets and Treats

Today I baked.  I bake often actually but usually it's cookies for the family or a dessert for company.  Today I baked second batches of things that we have already eaten and Christmas isn't actually here yet.  

As I watched my previous baking disappear in just a "little dessert after supper" I realized that I now have to bake for a family of 6.  When Tessa and Bo were Lilly and Eli's ages, we knew that they really didn't need extra sweets (who does?) so they really hardly saw them.  Dan and I ate and enjoyed them and they were shared with extended family.  However, 9 and 7 year olds are quite observant, and when a 2 and 4 year old see older siblings "enjoying" well all of a sudden we've gone from treats for 2 to treats for 6.  There's a very big difference.  

I actually love it.  I've been waiting since Dan and I got married for such things to happen, food to be loved and disappear with little or no notice.  Dan can eat alot but he is not so gluttonous as to eat a whole pan of squares... but a family of 6 that's done oh so easily.  :)  So eat up and enjoy, and come for a Christmas visit!  I'll try and hide some holiday treats for you.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

When I sit down to write, I know that it is time I do learn to write about my thoughts and feelings.  I am Not a new mom, who can only think of the latest cute and witty thing that her child/ren have done.  But yet, that is what comes to mind.  It kind of scares me, but kind of makes me really happy that even at this time in my life, when I have been doing this mothering thing for 9 years already, there are still fresh new things to laugh about when it comes to kids.  It just changes a bit.

Five years ago I just had 2 kids and they sang and danced in crazy form and pretended to play the "btar" (guitar) to entertain Dan and I in the evening.  Now four of them act out a play that they created and practiced in the basement to "entertain" us.  Each one plays a part and dispite the occasional fighting, they do pretty good, and it makes this mothers heart smile.  

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

What inspires me

Well today I was inspired to start this because of my friend Teresa, I read her blog and thought.... "maybe it's time."  Then I looked outside my kitchen window to refill my coffee, and I just had to sit down and put in words the beauty of the day.  God's paint brush is always busy, and usually I am amazed by vibrant greens, beautiful blues (oh that Caribbean ocean) and pink sunsets.  But today, it was all grey and it was beautiful....

Between the sky, the trees, the snow, everything was grey and lovely.  So many shades and depths.  Would I want to look at it the rest of my life?  No, but today God gave me that picture and it was complete beauty.