So Sorry (Christmas and life)

I feel so bad y'all.  It has been on my weekly to-do list to post to our family blog all month long.  It is really important to me personally to keep this blog up to date as it means so much to record our family memories (good and bad) here. And when I get behind, I know I will leave out some of the small but important memories.  I always feel like someday when I am gone, this will be such a gift to my kids and  future grandchildren.

So, here is what happened.  Will got the flu just before Christmas.  He missed his final exams and had to go in on the weekend before Christmas to make them up.  Dave also got pretty sick (not sure if it was the flu because he did have a flu shot).  Then, just as Will was getting better, Harry got it BAD.  His fever was 105.  He even had to miss Christmas Eve Mass with our family.  Just as he was getting better, Kate got it.  She woke up with 104 fever on Christmas morning!  It was a scary time as there had been a cluster of flu deaths in our area (one of a 17 year old girl).  I did not get the flu and I plan to share in a future post how I think I escaped it (although Dave doesn't believe me).

Then, right after Christmas vacation, I had a TON of work to do.  I was blessed enough to be hired to give 4 talks this month.  I gave a very in depth two part seminar on the 10 biggest mistakes parents are making and how to fix them at the Houston JCC.  It was very well attended and I got great feedback but it was a TON of work.  It was like putting together 10 mini talks since I had to gather research on 10 different topics.

I am giving two more talks this month at a local pre-school on Fostering positive sibling relationships and What your marriage is teaching your children.

I love giving presentations because it is so rewarding to empower people to go home and make changes for the better in their relationships. I love when people come up to me afterwards and tell me what they plan to change or when they e-mail me and tell me how their family has improved.  It is very rewarding work and I feel God put me on this path. Anyway, I share this with you to tell you that I just have not had time to do much of anything but work and family.  Everything else has fallen by the wayside. Everything. And I cannot complain.  I feel blessed to be able to do this work.

So, here is my long catch up post.

If you've been reading for years (which by the way Jan 7th was the 7th anniversary of 3 Peanuts!), you know we have all sorts of silly little rituals and traditions surrounding Christmas.  Anyway, the flu kinda switched things up for us this year.

Dave, Will and Kate as we were leaving for Christmas Eve Mass.  Harry was too sick to go.  I did not want him to spread the flu. When he heard us taking the annual "before Mass in front of tree" photos, he quickly cleaned up and threw some clothes on to jump in a picture.  I was laughing inside because year after year, they moan and complain about these photos but Harry definitely did not want to be left out this year.

And you can see in this one, Harry still had his sense of humor about him.  This was the tail end of his flu. And we did not know it... but the beginning of Kate's:) You can also see we are not really touching each other.  I was trying to prevent the spread of the flu.  In fact, I pretty much quarantined the boys for a week each.

I love this photo.  I took it at our Church.  We always go an hour early to get a seat.

For the last few years, we have been going out to a very nice dinner on Christmas Eve.  This year, we had decided to order food from one of our favorite Italian restaurants earlier in the day and heat it up after Mass for dinner.  I am so glad we did that this year.  After dinner, we gave the peanuts their traditional Christmas Eve gift.  The boys always get a nutcracker and Kate gets an ornament.

I try to get a nutcraker that relates to the year they have had. Dave bought a kayak this year and he and the boys have really enjoyed spending time fishing together.  Harry in particular has really gotten into fishing.



Will has been playing some golf this year. So I was thrilled when I found him this golf nutcracker.

Kate got a gymnastics ornament (photo below--the 3 of them) since she spent every free second this year doing gymnastics.  She loves it with such passion.

I also had a charm added to her charm bracelet.  It is so cute.  I used to sing this song to her everyday when she came home from China.  I would rock her and sing....

 Scout climbs right into the photos now or she photobombs them.

After the kids opened those gifts, Kate really wanted me to open something that she got for me.

A few years ago, I started collecting nativities. I asked Dave to bring me one from each country he travels to for work. I only have a few (France, Israel, and Columbia but hoping for Malaysia very soon).  So, Kate had the idea to buy me a nativity.  She asked Dave to drive her to buy it but it was all her idea and she was SO excited to give it me.  I love it.

Then we read Twas the Night before Christmas and the story of the birth of Jesus as we always do.  We made Harry sit across the room so Kate and I would not get flu germs. Ha!  Little did I know Kate already had it.

After that, we all went upstairs to our media room/playroom and watched White Christmas. Well, Harry went to bed and Kate fell asleep.  Kate was very warm and sleepy...I should have known!

Next up Christmas morning and day...

I will be posting a bunch over the next few days to try to do some catch up before the end of January.  Happy New Year Y'all!