Belated Merry Christmas & Belated Happy New Year !!

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late .... Yes, this holiday season has been a season of "late" for me.  It hasn't even been a week since we celebrated the New Year & I'm already LOL at myself.

Two house moves within 5 months of each other seems to have been too much for me. Yes! I'm blaming my end of the year "lateness" on that.  It seems many folks, especially my family, think I am super woman and can literally leap tall buildings in a single bound.  I keep telling them they have me confused with another super hero.  Prior to our cross country move in April, it had been nearly 17 years since we'd moved houses.  I was definitely out of practice and that move still didn't get me back up to speed for the 2nd move in October.  I still have things to unpack, organize and an entire room (our basement den) to put together.

By the time Thanksgiving rolled around I was still trying to find my bearings and was relieved that since our big boys wouldn't be home until December 29th, I'd get an additional week to prepare for our family Christmas celebration.  Even with an extra week, I didn't catch up - HA! HA!  We put our Christmas decor and tree up on December 26th!  Our Christmas / New Years cards were mailed only 4 days prior to Christmas BUT THEN 90% of them were returned to us on Dec. 27th for additional postage.  I didn't make it back to the post office for stamps and mailing until January 3rd.  Yes, I did ... I mailed out those happy wishes and blessings more than a week after Christmas & three days after the New Year!  I figured that most of our friends and family would need a little "pick me up" after all the hustle and bustle of the holidays had subsided.  I, being super woman, was totally up to the task of spreading good cheer a week (or two) after the big event(s).

Our family celebration and time together has been very calm and relaxing.  Since our museums and parks are closed during the winter months, we have literally been hanging around the house.  Well, we have left a couple times ... we went to church on New Year's Day.  And when I say we, that includes Mr.B, my dad, AB, JP, OG & EJ (at the last minute BT was not able to make the trip out).  I'm sure as time progresses, I will converse with other church members about my family so, I was blessed to be able to introduce them.  We also enjoyed a nice New Year's pot luck after the service.  We introduced the southern tradition of New Year's day black eyed peas and cabbage to the locals.  A couple days later we drove 45 miles to our nearest "city", population 4,800, for a few electrical supplies - AB has been installing ceiling fans for me, **big smile**.  Yesterday I drove JP 60 miles to the next larger city in the opposite direction, population est. 13,000, for a hair cut, dry cleaning pick up and a Dairy Queen blizzard.  This little drive also afforded JP the opportunity to snap a couple photos of the bad lands. 

Since we have not been out sight seeing or exploring during this visit, I haven't hustled or bustled one bit.  I am really enjoying just cooking (lots of cooking), "hanging out" and relaxing with our children.  Last evening the kiddos played another game of Monopoly ... as usual JP won and EJ cried.  JP has lost only two Monopoly games in his entire life & EJ always cries because JP bankrupts him, and everyone else.  Although I'm not too fond of the crying, the predictability of my children's personalities is comforting.

This holiday season I am totally laughing at my "late" self (and had a couple moments of self doubt, but we won't focus on that),  and have found this Christmas and New Years to be very Merry, very Blessed, very Calm and very Bright.  I pray your holiday season was a joyous as mine is turning out to be.