Christmas Past

It was over before I knew it. It seems as though this Christmas season was faster than any others I can recall. Perhaps it is because I am pregnant and spend a lot of my spare time sleeping or practicing my birth preparations. Perhaps it is because I spent my days busily preparing for Christmas and it all just went by in a blur.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at Ken's parents house. A couple of days before that Ken and I got the bulk of the shopping done and then we reevaluated some of the gifts and had two more trips back to stores to get thing just right. We had a nice Family Home Evening at home on the 30th when we decorated the tree. We had the missionaries to dinner twice and we attended a couple of parties. We enjoyed the company of friends and family. On the 24th we spent the evening with Ken's parents and siblings. We enjoyed a nice Christmas dinner and a reading of the Christmas story complete with dressed up grandkids and presents and lots of singing. It was perfect.

We came home to bed and awoke to a house full of presents and excited children. I think in the future we will not recall the presents (there were many) but we will think of the fun and the chaos. We did sing in the ward choir this year (Ken, Kayla and me) I will remember that. We sang Oh, Holy Night and I was to emotional to sing during part of it. It really made me think of how special this time of year is. The line in the song says "Behold your King, before him lowly bend" and "He knows your needs". I felt at that moment that he truly does know me.

Today things are getting back to normal. I bought some storage tubs for the new toys that need to be put away. The tree was taken down and the decorations carefully wrapped up for next year. I vacuumed the whole house and moved all the leftover treats to one spot where I have since been pushing them on my kids to eat before they are inedible.

I feel the need (probably pregnancy-related) to clean and put away everything. I have just a few things left to get ready before it is time for the baby. Today marks one calendar month left till my due date. I spoke to a good friend at church that will loan me her bassinet for the few months I will need it (woo hoo! Something else I don't have to buy). I am borrowing a (new) car seat from my sister in law and that should be over here soon too. That marks the end of my physical preparations. I don't know if we are ready emotionally yet.

Much of this week will revolve around the kids. They are out of school this week and while Ken is at work we have many things planned. I have many candy canes that need to be made into cookies. I thought we should make at least one batch :) We also plan to attend the children's museum before our pass expires. Brady's actual birthday is on Friday so I have a cake to make.

I have no doubt that this week will pass as quickly as the last and it will be the past soon. I plan to try to savor as much of this time as possible. This is my last few nights of decent sleep and my last week with my kids home before the new baby. This is the last few days of the year and the last few days of the decade. I will have to give some thought to my resolutions.

Today we learned about reverence in class at church. I have some ideas to make a more reverent house and more reverent children. I am not sure why but Sunday mornings are hard for our family. We have lots of conflict and strife some Sundays. Today was also a change day for the kids and that is hard too. Today was the last day on 11 o'clock schedule. Next year we meet at 1:00. I think I will prefer church from 1-4 with a new baby.

In the picture above (taken on 12/20) I am wearing my Christmas outfit and my hair that needs a cut. It is the most recent of my belly pictures. It probably won't get much more dramatic from here on out - I am unable to eat much due to a tiny stomach space and horrid heartburn. The upside is less gained weight on my part. Kinda takes the fun out of holiday eating when I dread the after-effects.

I hope that all of you had wonderful Christmas-times. How bright the new year appears from here :)