It's hard to believe Christmas is tomorrow.
I'm usually giddy with excitement by now, but this year has been very hard. Yesterday marked six months since our little Brigid died, and we're missing her so much. I am so excited for Christmas, only because I love seeing the look on the boys' faces when they come down that morning. But I'm just not feeling it so much on the inside.
Still, there are things around us that make me happy when I see them. These are a few of them:
I'm pretty crazy about paper snowflakes. Jack is, too. He decided that he wanted to make one for Santa, since the big guy doesn't really get a lot of presents for Christmas besides the ones from the elves and Mrs. Claus. So we folded the paper and he carefully cut out a snowflake for him to put on his Christmas tree, writing "To Santa from Jack" on the back.
I just love our Christmas stockings. Five of them just fit onto our railing and I remember thinking that we needed a new house if we were to add one more. Or two more. But now there are still just five. And that one paper one that Jack made at school and added on the end for Blarney. But there, over the door. See that? That's something that Patrick and I got in Ireland when we got engaged. That's St. Brigid's cross. It's like she's in the stocking picture, but in a different way. When I look down the hallway and see that, it makes me happy.
Sort of.
Finally, there is a house nearby that has several of these Moravian stars hanging outside. Some of them are over eight feet tall. They're just beautiful and ethereal. I love getting the boys in their jammies after dinner one night, giving them some sippy cups of hot chocolate, and driving around to look at Christmas lights. This house is my favorite.
And, of course, it's hard not to smile when I look at these three, even if they have been in off-the-wall mode for the past few weeks because Christmas is coming.
For the first time in years, I've gotten all of my wrapping done before Christmas Eve, which means that we can have a relaxing day together today and possibly even get to bed at a decent hour.
And then, in the morning we get to tell the boys that we're going to see this guy:
I can't stinking wait!
photo source: http://www.americanconsumernews.com/2009/01/disney-announces-military-travel-promotion-for-2009.html
Patrick took the day off, and Jack was pretty excited to have a reason for a party. Since the only parties he's ever been to are birthday parties, he kept calling it a "Same Patrick Day birthday party" all day. I guess he was expecting cake and ice cream at some point, but really it was more of an all-day affair.
throughout the day. Don't you just love Irish potatoes? It's just an acceptable way to eat the block of cream cheese you've been eyeing in the fridge for a while. Or is that just me?
And we finished with the most amazing corned beef and cabbage I've ever tasted. Much better than typical boiled dinner,