Unique Christmas of all time

Wow its over its all over. It was quite the adventure beginning on Christmas eve and ending Christmas day evening. There is one word that completely describes the season the year and the word is unique.

Christmas eve I had to work to fill in for one of my favorite people at work. The day was quiet and a lot was accomplished which in itself is unique. Upon leaving from work I remembered that I hadn’t called my hubby and asked him to stop and get shavings and food for the horse probably because I had for the first time ever left the house without my phone. I pulled into the Tractor supply parking lot at 4:35pm and walked up to the door to see if they had hours posted and the manager inside came to the door and said that she closed a half hour ago but if you knew what we needed and were paying with a credit card she could help us. If that wasn’t great enough the food I usually get wasn’t on the shelf but at the bottom of a pallet of pet food that had come in on a truck a few hours earlier. So these 2 wonderful employees undid a pallet to retrieve a bag of food for my old girl. And all with a smile and a Merry Christmas.

The next adventure was needing to take Meg down to the dollar store so she could get gifts to put under the tree so everyone would have at least something to open. I had her call to see how late they were open and it was till 8pm. We headed out to go to Tops to get food which we had none in the house forgetting that Tops closed at 6 we arrived at 5:55pm I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t go in I had to get food not grab a few things. I of course had a melt down in the car how were we going to eat the next few days. I guess I could have had Dave do some shopping but thought no problem after work I could get it all done. Would have done it earlier but we didn’t have the money till that morning. Meg suggested Wal-Mart all the way up in Geneseo. Another call home to have someone call Wal-Mart to find out how late they were open while heading to the dollar store to do speed Christmas shopping.

Done at the dollar store in a half an hour and heading up to Wal-Mart which was open till 8 pm. I can’t remember ever shopping that fast but was able to get at least the basics to get us through till Sat. Didn’t get the usual food you would think for Christmas dinner I couldn’t justify spending a weeks worth of grocery money on one meal so we got something once again unique for the feast, the fixings for pizza and wings as suggested by Sara. We arrived home at 9pm pooped and hungry after a very long day.

I proceeded to have another melt down because basically I didn’t have anything to put under the tree for the kids. They were okay with it but for some reason I couldn’t let go of it and the feeling that once again I am a failure as a parent. It didn’t help either that stuffing the stockings later I found Henrys stocking and realized first Christmas without him and that Christmas day would have been his 12th birthday. Not that I don’t already have enough trouble this time of year. So I put in my DVD of it’s a wonderful life and sat and watched it and cried and finally was tired enough to go to bed at 4am.

I actually got to sleep in Christmas morning because Ian was kind enough to go out and do the horses in the morning. We did presents around 11am which was pretty unique and the mood soon turned to side splitting laughter. It started with Sara’s unique gift to her dad. She didn’t want to give him another tie or mug and she was thinking back to when she dissected the woodchuck on the ping pong table with a steak knife and an idea was born. She made a stuffed animal woodchuck that opened up and showed the innards. It was amazing and imaginative beyond belief and made everybody roll on the floor with laughter. Next was the boys gifts from Megan she gave Sean a whoopee cushion and Ian a slime that does pretty much the same thing so they were having farting wars with their respective noise makers. Its amazing that farting noises still cause such laughter even when the boys are grown.

Megan and I then took a ride up the hill to see Annie and visit for Christmas. She looks fantastic and her BFF Kylie got grooming tools and a new halter and lead rope for her and was happy as could be. We stopped at the kwik fill to pick up a few things for dinner and headed back down the hill.

Then the power went out. All I could think of was those poor people that had company over and dinner in the oven. We took a nap and by the time the power came back on we were ready to make pizza and wings.

The 24th and 25th could be described as a roller coaster of emotions and definitely unique. It will be one that we talk about later on as a do you remember the Christmas of 2009. I ended up spending the next 2 days in bed with the worst headache I have had in a while. Now if I can make it through new years I will be hopefully set for another year.

Stay safe, stay warm, feel loved.

And a Snappy New Year

The most F@#$ing wonderful time of the year, yeah right.

Henry's birthday is coming up shortly he was

a Christmas baby. This time of year is tough

and it just got tougher.

I Still miss him a lot and still turn around and

expect him to be standing there or come out of

the bathroom expecting to trip over him.

I was going through pictures to post on face book

(my new addiction) and found this picture of

Henry as a puppy. He was such a little ball of

fur and looked like a bear cub.

I finally force myself to pull out the decorations last night.

I think it wasn't for Megan I probably would have passed this

year. The kids are older and I no longer have that overwhelming

urge to make it special. I know I should but it gets harder and harder.

Megan asked me if I liked Christmas and I said I do like especially the

music and spending time with family.

It is going to be another love Christmas I explained to her and the

others and they are OK with that but I still can't help feeling like

a failure as a parent and provider especially this time of year.

Too many monetary things on the plate right now with things that

are getting neglected that really need to be addressed and add

the "joy" of Christmas to it and bam.

I hate feeling this way I want to enjoy this time of year but

after so many years I am beginning to think that is an impossible

dream. So I will try and continue to make positive memories for

the kids like last nights movie, chicken wings and tree decorating with

Megan and muddle through.

Off to finish decorating and watching the rest of the movies

we rented.

Stay safe, stay warm, feel love!

TTFN

I just went back and read what I last posted and can’t believe it has been over 2 months since I last wrote an entry. I have been trying not to really think and going forward one step at a time just to survive and not break into a million pieces. Plus gee its that time of year again that I still think I could make a killing with a business that puts people in drug induced coma’s till January 1st.

Of course with 4 kids and hubby and animals there is definitely never a dull moment. Sean survived football season with only two injuries that put him on the sideline for a while. Sara and Meg both were on the Varsity Girls Swim Team which made going to games and swim meets easier at least. Sara had a tough season badly spraining her thumb in gym halfway through and then swimming in counties and sectionals suffering from the H1N1 virus and a sinus infection. But both girls made it to sectionals and the team won sectionals for the first time beating their rivals Livonia.

The past few months have been one flu or another past among the 6 of us. Sean was finally feeling better after about a month and a half of flu and ear infections when he started his swim season and all was good for a few days till the evil gym class struck again. He just went for his 3 recheck for the concussion he got playing speed ball in gym and is out yet another week from practice. And Megan has been home this whole week with the stomach flu. Calgon take me away pleeeeeeeeease.

The only thing that seems to make me feel good these days is my job. It continues to make me feel human, an individual and worthwhile. Oh that and helping with the swim meets running the timing system oh the simple things lol.

So as we muddle through the holiday season and be thankful for our relatively good health and family that loves me and work really hard not to get sucked into that black hole.

Stay safe, stay warm, feel loved.

P.S The court case was finally settled for Ian and Sara it only took 7 months grrrrr. So his record is clean as long as he stays out of trouble for the next year and beyond.