Christmas!

Christmas was so lovely! Today was perfectly restful and a time of reflection since last evening I was determined to get all decorations out and all Christmas wrappings away, and new toys in a place. This afternoon we sat down and recorded all our Christmas memories in my journal. There were funny quotes, a log of places we visited or things we did, favorite songs sung, silly things that happened, etc. We had fun reviewing it all and it just made me so thankful for all the time I've been able to spend with my family. I think about watching "The King Is Born" scripture video with the kids, seeing their little rocking chairs next to each other and watching Katherine as she put her head against her brother and said "I love you Carter Morrison." Matt and I were so struck by it. It's precious to see my children interact and for the most part they get along very well. I love that they have had countless games of hide and seek while Carter has been out of school and made up their own games as well. The most memorable is where Katherine is crawling on all fours barking and Carter says don't catch me rabid dog! When she catches him he get rabies and then starts chasing her. It's bizarre and hilarious and I have to laugh and be happy every time I see that they enjoy playing together. And it cracks me up that Katherine rarely calls Carter, Carter. She almost always calls him Carter Morrison. So cute!

We've had serious moments as we've read scriptures and researched doctrine. Carter spent a long time looking on lds.org searching scriptures for all references to where heaven is exactly. It was great to see him seeking answers. We've enjoyed listening to and singing along to Handel's Messiah, gone to a couple nativity open houses (one with a live nativity) and felt the spirit so strongly as we've talked about our Savior and his atoning sacrifice for us. We've also had lots of funny moments. For instance, Christmas Eve when it was time to open pajamas from grandma Matt was so excited to see his new pajamas. He ripped the tag off with such force the plastic tag flew straight into my eye! It was scary for a moment and then the absurdity of it all hit us and we had some good laughs (and I took an ibuprofen)! I guess now everyone knows how much Matt loves pajamas! Carter was so cute when he got his pajamas on he said "grandma always sends me the softest pajamas!" and made us touch how soft the fabric was. Katherine twirled in her very first nightgown (mickey and minnie on it so I think it won her over). Anyway, I won't bore you with more moments in our life but I do want to go on record giving thanks for the wonderful blessing of my family and being able to be with them. This month I didn't have to go to a BSA committee meeting, Cub committee meeting, 3 den meetings, pack meeting, updating info, or do any cub planning. I also didn't have to prepare Friday volunteer lessons for Carter's class or go give them nor did I have to schlep Carter to dance lessons once the performances were over for the month. There are probably other things I didn't have to do either that I just won't remember until I have to do them this upcoming month. It's overwhelming to think about how life is going to body slam me when we begin back to school/back to normal routines. I'm just feeling like I'm going in too many directions. I don't like that transition week at all and am hoping it goes as smoothly as possible and that I realize I can do it again.