Well the holidays are winding down and I’m sure, like you, they were a good mix of festivity, family, and cray cray.  I had such good intentions of catching up here (four different article starts to be exact) but between the Christmas cards, cookie baking, and holiday merriment, life got away with me.

Now that I’ve caught a moment to breathe, I’ve been thinking back on the mantra that seemed to come up again and again this holiday season: “THIS IS GOING TO BE GREAT!” All caps, full volume, full confidence, very questionable of actual greatness to be achieved.  It all started with the outdoor lights.  We’ve been a few years without Christmas lights and it was really starting to bug me.  And with Matthew scheduled to be gone three weeks of December, I knew if there was going to be any exterior illumination, I was going to have to suck it up and do it.  So I loaded our full sized ladder onto our red Radio Flyer wagon and rolled it to our front porch.  I was lucky enough to have my 2 and 3 year old to help me hang the lights out in the middle of the street.   The second time I had the ladder close in on my arms and smash my fingers, I stated loudly to absolutely no one, “This is going to be great! This is so easy!”  After making a hole in the side of my house and trying to find the joy in hanging Christmas lights in 80 degree weather, I realized that it was not easy.  Fake it till you make it my friends!

As the holiday season went on, I had the delightful experience of getting the a text from Matthew one night that one of our goldfish had died.  And by died, I mean was brutally and savagely killed by his tank mate, the most evil (probably just hungry) fish ever, Goldie.  But guess what folks! It’s December!  So we were very blessed to find out that our fish, I Don’t Know, did not in fact die.  He had merely gone up with our elf to visit Santa at the North Pole.  So when he came back a bit fatter (Christmas cookies) and more white (snow shock), it was just one more parenting moment where things were going to work out great!  Until I found out right before Christmas Eve mass that Goldie had died.  It was his time.  And we had even hung a stocking this year. 

On the topic of church services, we all know that getting ready for Christmas mass is easy for everyone (over age 65).  So when it was one hour before mass and I still needed to shower two kids and myself while Matthew was holding seats at church with the other two, I knew it was going to be SUPER FUN.  “I CAN DO THIS!!!!!!” I yelled at myself.  And maybe yelled some other things.  We got ready, sped to church, did twenty laps around the parking lot looking for the absolute last spot, and raced out of the car.  “THIS IS GOING TO BE GREAT!!!” I semi shouted at my half excited, half confused 2 and 3 year olds.  And it was great.  I had remembered to throw some ballet flats into my purse to make the sprint into church that much easier.  We got to the top of the church steps as the first song began, at which point my little one looked at me and said, “I need to go potty.”  I’ll give it an A+ for effort.

So as we look forward to 2018, I’ve got high hopes.  Not for super achievements but for simplicity.   Maybe a smidge more time to actually take care of myself.  More time with Matthew not even in the form of date nights but just making sure we’ve got our heads above water.  Even as I write this, I know it will be challenging….but let’s just pretend it won’t and maybe it won’t be that bad.  Positivity is my start in the right direction.  And that means it’s going to be a great year.  IT’S GOING TO BE GREAT!

For your enjoyment….a few Christmas outtakes ❤️<3 ❤