Eric’s had the entire week off. This is the longest he’s been off work at one time since the twins were born…so, like, 3 years ago. It’s been good.
I took down our Christmas tree already. It was really hard to do, but it was in the way, forcing the post-Christmas mess into the remaining living areas, and there was nothing I could do until it came down. So, down it came. I usually leave it up for at least a full week after Christmas, but this year, I needed some SPACE more than I needed to see the pretty tree. And I still have all the rest of my decorations up, so it’s not a total Scrooge thing.
Eric put together my new shelves (think square shelves with fabric cubes to hold stuff) this morning. LOVE that my parents got them for me. LOVE how much stuff those cubes hold. LOVE how much cleaner the house is already.
I (with a bit of help from Eric) put together the little bike my parents got for Megan today. It has handles so that I can steer her while I push, and as she gets bigger, she can pedal herself. She loved it. She would have let me push her around our first floor for the whole evening if I’d wanted to. Sadly for her, I did not want to. But the smiles were pretty darn sweet!
Today, my niece turned 1. Happy Birthday, McKenna!
I finished the Inheritance cycle by Christopher Paolini yesterday. I got the full set as an early Christmas present and read all 4 books in the month of December. Overall, the whole story was well-told, the ending was fitting (not exactly happy, but as it should be), and I enjoyed it. I miss reading sometimes, but I don’t split my attention well when I read, so it’s hard to keep a good balance between disappearing into my books and staying on top of my kids. Oh well…I guess I’ll just keep reading and hope for the best.
And, to finish, a quick list of some favorite things/moments from Christmas (not conclusive and in no particular order):
- My new diamond earrings from Eric
- The look on my kids faces when they saw their stockings on Christmas morning
- Megan bringing me Erin’s little bottle of nail polish and tapping it on my feet while saying “Pink!”
- Nights of hot chocolate and Christmas shows with my kids
- My brother generously giving my son all his matchbox cars from when he was a kid (and Alex loves them!)
- Erin getting the hang of her new pink scooter
- Watching my parents try to out-give each other again this year
- Sitting in church with my whole family on Christmas morning
- My brother’s bear hug, thanking me for his gift
- Making cookies with my kids (even if we did have to add 1/4 c. of maple syrup to the corn syrup for the Scotcheroos…and no, you can’t even taste it!)
- Watching the kids enjoy ice cream with sprinkles for dessert’
And many more, of course! I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas…can’t believe it’s almost the new year. Guess I better start thinking about resolutions, huh? Or not… 
Happy Thursday!
