Christmas and the New Year

Christmas has been bittersweet.  There have been many reminders that Joey isn't here... and this is the first Christmas that he hasn't been.  The 23rd at my Meemaw's was probably the hardest.  Christmas day wasn't so bad because we had so many people at our house and I was busy from sun up to sun down.  Yesterday, as people started leaving, I was thinking about him a lot again.  I just have so many things that I don't understand about the whole thing and that I wish could have been different.  But, there's nothing that we can do now... So I just have to trust that he's much more at peace where he is and be thankful that he's with Jesus.
On the "sweet" side, my mom and dad-in law brought us an almost 9 cubic feet deep freezer :).  It fits nicely in a spot made for a deep freezer in our new garage.  I have been wanting a deep freezer for a llloonnnggg time.  And with cash that I received, I think I might hit up the farmer's market and stock up on meat :).  Yes, I am thinking about buying MEAT with my Christmas money... very weird I know.  I'll either do that or buy a grain mill.  We'll see.  Also, my parents bought our family a zoo membership!  My sister in law and I are planning on using it this week as the guys are painting our living room :).  My mom's idea is that it's more important to make memories than to have more things that we don't need.  I completely agree.  It was a wonderful idea!  It will DEFINITELY be used... probably often.  Karis LOVES the zoo.  It's a great way to spend a day as a family.

 

Robert surprised me with a wonderful gift as well :).  I have been saying that I want a new Willow Tree "figurine" because I LOVE them.  I only had two, and I wanted more because I think they are beautiful.  I had one that my mom and dad in law bought me when I had Karis (and mommy and daddy holding a baby), and Robert bought me one when I was pregnant with Ethan (a pregnant woman).  Well, apparently Robert asked his mom to find one for me :) (he didn't have a chance to get away to buy one).  So when we were opening up gifts last night, there was one from Robert (we each got a new CD and that was our "gift" to each other, so this was a surprise).  His mom was trying to find a way to fit all three of my kids into one.  She couldn't find one, but she found two that go well together.  One of them is a mommy with two little boys, and another one is a little girl (which, by the way, she drove all over Dallas to find for me!).  So, when you put the two together, it's a mommy with two little boys and a little girl :).  It's perfect. 

The kids enjoyed opening gifts this year, and we didn't receive an overabundance of junk, but just some nice toys :).  I will be cleaning out some of their old toys soon to make room for new toys.  Here are some pics of them opening gifts on Christmas morning:

Ethan received some Dr. Suess bowls in his stocking and he was happy with that.  :)

And the best gift of all was a "house" made out of the box from our freezer :).

I'm looking forward to a new year.  New year means new beginnings and we have many things to look forward to.  Although, things will never be "normal" again without my brother here... so that's something that I'm going to have to get used to.  But, some positive things are that we moved into this wonderful house, I am having a new little one, and I get to stay home VERY soon. 

I have a long list of things that I still want to get done before Levi gets here... we'll see what happens.  A few of these things are:

• Paint living room/dining room (this week with the help of family)
  
• Finish unpacking and organizing rooms and closets
• Buy the last few things for baby (nursing cover, breast pads, birth kit)
• Write Spring 2010 outline for school and several weeks of lesson plans (this one's a must, and very soon)
• Stock up on food and make many freezer meals for when baby is born (previously written on another blog post)
• Clean the house well right before

I'll be back later to write some goals for the new year.  I need to get off the computer because we have family here :).