I Forgot I Have a Blog

I admit it. I temporarily forgot I have a blog. It has been a month since my last post. Pretty sad. But I'm back to do some catch up and will try to be better with more regular posts.

At work the past week, one of my major tasks has been to call some of our families and ask if they would like help purchasing gifts for their kids for Christmas. Each year our school does a fundraiser with all proceeds going to buy gifts for some of our kids and kids that are in our local homeless and crisis shelters. As I've been calling parents, I've been humbled by the thanks and blessings being given to me and our school. So many families are in such tough spots right now and it has really brought my attention to just how fragile life as I know it is. So to catch up on the past month, I think I'll focus on what I am grateful for.

My brother and his partner came up for Thanksgiving this year. It was so great to have them here. I haven't celebrated Thanksgiving with them for a very long time. We had tons of great food (and there was even some meat on the table for my mom, Ben and Alan) and loads of laughs. We went Christmas tree hunting with some friends and found a lovely one which is now up and decorated and giving me immense pleasure. Much to my mother's dismay I have the tradition now of decorating the tree in old glass ornaments and multi-colored (non-LED) lights and a homemade metal snowflake tree topper. It is very old-fashioned looking and nothing like what I grew up with. No homemade, crafty, or memorabilia type of ornaments on this tree. I'll put a picture on when I can get around to it. Something else I am very grateful for is that Alan put the lights on my tree because I can't even touch the thing without breaking out and feeling like my hands are on fire and itching like crazy. He did a beautiful job and saved all of us from my whining and complaining.

I have been a cookie making machine as of late as well. I've made 6 kinds of cookies (in one weekend!) and have been a good girl and put them in tins and on my porch so that they will actually make it down to Illinois for Christmas instead of ending up in my tummy. My boys (who named me Bubbles) and I decorated sugar cookies and had a messy good time. We were all pretty sugared up after that adventure, with sprinkles and frosting literally everywhere. And I even went to my first "Cookie Party" where each person bakes a dozen cookies per person attending (aka I made 120 truffles) and then you come home with a dozen different cookies from each person (aka I came home with 100 cookies). Let me say that this is a good idea in theory, but when you are coming home with bags (like grocery bags) full of cookies, you start to rethink the merits of this type of party. Let's just say I gave away a lot to friends and had Brian take a bunch to work.

My Christmas shopping is done and just a few more gifts need to be wrapped and then we are ready for our annual drive to Dwight. I'm so excited to see all my family and hopefully some friends as well. My favorite family quote of the season so far is from my cousin Charlotte, who after emailing us her Christmas list ended it with "P.S. I'm not little anymore". Our itinerary is to visit my brother for a few days and then on to Dwight for a few more days and then head home.

And to end with one more thing I'm grateful for.....this afternoon I looked at my phone and there was a text from Brian. The text said, "Didn't walk Foxy, but I made dinner. Just put it in the oven and it's ready." Now if that isn't magical, I don't know what is.