It Can't Be Over. It's the 7th Day of Christmas!

Christmas wasn’t what I imagined this year.  In fact there were a few events that if it were possible, I would ask to do over but on the other hand there were a couple of things that worked out perfectly.  One of the perfect things happened to be an unexpected event that made me want to stop the clock and freeze time.

My grandgirls came to stay with us on December 7^th.   We weren’t expecting them until December 21 and I would be lying to you if I didn’t admit that at first I was completely overwhelmed.   When they arrived, Christmas preparations were barely underway and things were busy at work with a lot of year-end activities.  It’s been nearly 8 years since I had to juggle the working mom schedule but it didn’t take long for me to get a schedule figured out.   Lucky for me after a week of rearranging and scheduling, our workplace day care center kicked off a winter camp program so the girls got to come to work with me every day. 

There were some week days that I was completely exhausted after getting them fed, bathed and ready for the next day but on the weekends it was incredible to have plenty of time to bake cookies, go ice skating, go Christmas shopping, volunteer, have tea parties, sing carols, read stories, play games and watch movies. My youngest granddaughter loves Gidget!   Can you imagine?   Every day really was a holiday – just like the words that Karen Carpenter sang.

I just took my son, his wife and the girls to the airport and I’m back home completely overwhelmed with an empty and silent house. While the girls were here everything was always out of place, something was being broken or spilled or someone was needing help with something but the for the past three weeks the house has been full of joy, excitement and enthusiasm.  In the evenings we would sit together in “the talking room” (my living room which has no television) and simply enjoy family times, telling the Christmas story nightly.  The mornings were so special. Nothing can take the place of a waking up to a child’s hand gently reaching for your face in the early hours of the morning just checking to see if you are awake.

Today my heart aches from having to say goodbye to such precious moments and at the moment it is too hard to think about much of anything else.  I am reminded that there is joy in being able to recognize precious moments when they happen and they happened a lot this Christmas.

May 2013 be filled with more wonderful moments with friends and family. Happy New Year.