Christmastime.

Man, this Christmas came and went so fast I can barely remember it all. We left for Texas on the 19th so we felt like we had to do everything earlier, quicker, more rushed.
More rushed than usual?? Man, that's rushed.
But here I am saying to you so that you are my solemn witnesses (in other words, remind me of this next year - remind me!): We will not be going to Texas for Christmas again. No more!
It is just too much. It's pretty darn hard to fit Santa into a little green Eddie Bauer suitcase. Even harder to get him home.

This will be a hard promise to keep though, because there is no where else I'd rather be than at my mom and dad's for Christmas. It isn't that her house has that nice Christmasy smell (it actually smells like boiled chicken half the time) it's that it's so darn cozy and pretty and lit up and decorated. And I love it!

Christmas really started on the 23rd when we brought home Truman, a golden retriever puppy for my dad. Remi hope had a fit - let's just leave it at that. Her and Truman were quite the pair.

But staying up late on Christmas night and playing Santa. That is the best part of all. I love it. It's like I'm finally in on a little bit of the magic. Though, I do have to admit, I think the spirit of excess came into that room and left. Even he thought it was ridiculous. But fun, what fun!

Christmas tends to be a hard time for some. Harder for others. Hi! I'm "others". Christmas carols haven't had the same meaning for me for a couple of years now. Lights look different. And I tend to understand the message behind it all - that of giving away your son - in an entirely new and respectful way. It seems more somber now. More Holy. Yes, definitely more Holy.

And so on Christmas morning when I opened up my new ring...a ring I wasn't expecting to get, a ring I had never even picked out...I started to cry. It had Elisha's birthstone in it. Heck, it had Elisha's face in it. It looked like him. Small, fragile, sweet and innocent. And it was perfect. I cried when I put it on and I remembered the fragile, sweet, Holiness of certain moments.