It is officially January 3 which means the inevitable holiday season is OVER! I can not say how happy that makes me.As soon as official deployment orders are in, the first thing most families think about is each holiday/birthday/anniversary/ important ANYTHING that will be missed. Or in some cases how many of each. The nice thing about 12 month deployments is you only miss everything ONCE, but the hard part is that you miss one of EVERYTHING. One Birthday for each family member, one anniversary, one Christmas, one Easter... etc.
Honestly, December was the most difficult month so far. Most holidays are easy to move past. You pretend it's just another day, don't make a big fuss like you would other years. But Christmas enraptures our culture. There is no way to avoid it. Every step you take, every moment of the month it seems is filled with either Shopping, mailing, Parties, Gifts, Christmas trees, Train rides, Santa Claus... you just can't hide out from it. Now don't get me wrong, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ is WORTH getting excited about. In fact the one moment I felt whole and comfort in the season was during the beautiful Christmas service at Arizona hills. But in general it is a very lonely and empty time for a family that is missing their loved one. It's not even the "empty" chair so to say that makes it so tough. It's the fact that we both come from very different families than what we have created in our OWN home. We had started our own traditions, and value the peace the comes with spending time as a family... our own family. SO being back "home" for Christmas for the first time in a while was just different, and a bit difficult.
Thanks to the amazing technology we have now, we were able to briefly facetime with Daddy Christmas morning. Of course the internet was bogged down leaving a blurry shot and nearly inaudible communication- BUT we are very fortunate to get anything. The boys got too many presents of course. The biggest hit was reindeer poop. The week prior to Christmas I kept asking Steven what he wanted. Mostly responding with Cars and Apaches. SO I would list things. Do you want....Dinosaurs? No. Do you want...trains? No. Do you want.... REINDEER POOP? YAAAA!! From that moment on he kept telling me he wanted Reindeer poop from Santa. So Santa delivered- a bag full of reindeer poop. Whipped together last minute Christmas morning- Mini Marshmallows dipped in melted chocolate/peanut butter. They were ACTUALLY delicious, I think he was on to something.
When the boys went down for a nap I went a little nut-so. Being pretty depressed in general and being READY for the season to be over and behind us.. I packed up Christmas before it ended. Yes I took down my tree at noon, packed up the lights, took every ounce of decor down, put away Elfie and her book, and shoved it all in the garage. And let me tell you- NOTHING felt better!
We enjoyed time with my whole family on my Moms side for Christmas night- All 4 of us 'kids' and our families , besides my husband of course. But it was nice and extravagent , full of great food and WAY too many presents. To say we all were spoiled is an understatement.
New years eve was Steven's first sleepover! Our favorite Army " soul family" I'd like to call them, came over and celebrated with us. We baked some delicious cupcakes, and probably overindulged a little bit once the boys were ALL fast asleep ;)
January 2nd was the best day in a LONG long time. What did we do? NOTHING. We stayed home for the first time in what seems like forever, and played played played. We all three wore our sweats and just enjoyed time together. I realize now I need to make a conscious effort to do this more. It was so easy in Alabama because our options of entertainment were limited- we were forced to live a much simpler life. Since living in Phoenix we seem to never stop, if I have ANY new years resolution at all it is to return back to our slower life as much as possible. Start saying NO to plans and focus on my boys and my house- because that is truly all that matters right now.
Ok off my soap box. Life is good again finally...really really good- as good as it can be without him. The holidays are over HOORAY and now we can focus on the important things.
Here's what we did the last couple weeks...
My little Christmas Angels...
Christmas Eve run together
Christmas Eve hanging out with Papa
Christmas Morning. Cheesy effects I know but I thought this was kind of cute, like the spirit of Christmas morning all lit up...
Opening presents
Yup. Reindeer poop.
Dinner and presents at the Colaiacovo house...
I'm so spoiled...
and so are my boys.
Our family
Mama and her boys with their matching PJs from Santa
Getting together after Christmas with some great friends and adorable kiddos.
Besides that little boy in the awkward bumblebee shirt that he HAD to wear.. don't know who he belongs to....
So this was crazy. I went for a quick run the other afternoon. Right when I left my Mom's house it seemed to get really dark but of course I kept on going. At about mile 4 it started to just POUR down on me- but running in the rain is my ABSOLUTE favorite so I kept going. Then the wind picked up and I felt like I was in a wind tunnel. Before I knew it the most BEAUTIFUL double rainbow sprung right over Daisy mountain! Quite a metaphor to life lately actually .The last photo is courtesy of my cousin-in-law who lives in Washington. Her friend posted this picture of a double rainbow to Facebook , and in that picture just happened to have this familiar person in it running.... How bizzare is that?
Steven has found a new love for hiking or "climb mountains" as he calls it. Kane loves to ride in the Carrier so I think we may just have to try out camelback here soon!
Is there anything better to wake up to than this face?
HAPPY 2013!!
I thought this was an Amazing pic from the "other" desert he sent me. The irony that such a horrible place can still hold so much beauty..
We decided that we needed to find use for the baby pool in the winter. So here was our solution.. SO much fun!
I am actually really excited for this year. For once I am not pregnant, have no major events to schedule around, and am just looking forward to spending my time with my favorite little men until Daddy comes home in the fall. My overall goal is to plan less and just trust that God has my steering wheel.
Here is to week 20! And a very happy 2013 to all :D
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