ghosts of Christmas....

So I have no earth shattering, life altering reason that it's been so long since I've updated this thing. Just been living life each day as it comes, thankful and blessed for the time that God has given us. I am working on a post for the beginning of the year highlighting our 2009 year, and will probably talk about resolutions then. I've never been one to make resolutions, let alone stick to the few ones I have actually made. Gonna work on that though. Maybe if I write them down this way, I can hold myself more accountable!

This has been me the past few days, and maybe writing it out will make it a little easier to understand and deal with.........some people might find this incredibly shallow and naive. But for me, it's real, and it's how I feel....

The days before and Christmas morning was wonderful.... it truly was. It was filled with family, friends, lots of laughter, singing, dancing, christmas lights looking, and just time together. I try every year to fit as much in as I possibly can, because of the schedule the girls are on. It started last year this way, and every other year after this one, it will be this way. And I guess every other year, I will have to go through this again and deal with my emotions in a way so as to cope with the way we must do Christmas.

Christmas isn't about gifts. I know this, and we have emphasized this to the girls. But let me give you a small snapshot into our lives at 12:20pm on Christmas day, when a lot of people have only begun to celebrate the day with family and friends. My parents, aunt and uncle, and David's parents have just left. The girls had left 20 minutes before that, at noon. David has gone to take a shower, and I walk into the den, look around, and I just want to cry. The doll, the only thing Chloe wanted for Christmas, the only thing that she had talked about for months, had been tucked ever so gently into her new little bed and kissed before her momma Chloe walked out the door. I'd been left with instructions on how to take care of her while Chloe was gone. Kameryn's charm bracelet, a gift from David and I, with little charms, each one picked out to describe her perfectly had been taken off and left on the coffee table, and her new camera from Santa, filled with happy pictures she'd snapped throughout the morning, put in it's case, and was still. I wasn't ready for the flood of emotions that would hit me after seeing this.

It just broke my heart as I tried to put myself in their shoes as a child. To wake up Christmas morning, the excitement and fun, and then leaving it all. Yes, in 10 days they will be able to once again physically touch these things and play with them. Yes, they were leaving there with their father who they were happy to see and going to a home filled with more presents for them. And yes, there are children in the world who don't have anything, let alone a Christmas present, or parents who don't have their children anymore to hug and celebrate anything with. I can't even begin to imagine how hard that would be, and I know that to some it might seem shallow to hear me say these things, but for me,right now, at this moment in my life, as a mother who wants the best for her children, who feels partly responsible for all the hurt, confusion, and difficult things they have to endure now, who gets to put away the Christmas tree and at the same time find new places for their gifts, I know that Christmas for them will never quite be the way it was for me growing up, and that breaks my heart.

I walk upstairs later that day, and the sheets on Kameryn's bed, and Chloe's makeshift trundle bed, made up in Kam's room so they could be together on Christmas Eve/morning, were still helter-skelter after 2 little girls scurried out of them giggling before dawn on Christmas morning. It's like everything had just froze in time. Flood-of-Emotions all over again.

But every other year, at noon on Christmas day, I will be strong, and hug them, tell them I love them and will take care of whatever they are leaving behind until they come back home. And when they call each day for an update, I get to tell her that I have changed her doll's clothes each day and put her pj's on and tucked her into bed each night, just as I was asked to do....

A "Real Simple" Deal

Quick fun find for you that I found on someone's blog today. Look at THIS!!I've already ordered my subscription! I LOVE this magazine, but hardly ever splurge and buy one. I usually just look at it online. Now you can have a full year of them for $5.....!! Wow, I love a good deal- Enjoy!

It's coming....

2009 Room Makeover in progress...... will catch up on the past 7 months plus post pics from our latest project.... got a lot to do in a week's time while the girls are gone! Here's a hint......

Fun thing....

Yes, instead of posting fun pics of the holiday to go with everything that has been going on with us... I thought I'd post this link to a really fun "word cloud" website. You can either type in a few things, or copy portions of your blog or whatever you choose. It chooses the most used words and creates a random word cloud.... pretty neat eh? Have fun and make your own! You can click on mine and it will make it bigger. I couldn't find a way to copy the actual wordle and paste it any larger.