It’s Christmas Eve, such a peaceful night. Everything is done; Joe and Justin are sound asleep; I have Nick lying beside me trying to figure out why he can’t fall asleep. He’s telling me he knows there’s no such thing as Santa, I ask why and he just smiles and explains himself in his newly deepened voice that cracks and has a randomly high pitched word here and there.
For the last few years we have done a Secret Santa within our family. After we put up our Christmas tree we all draw names and by something special for that person. I love doing this with my boys; it’s so much fun and so special for the 5 of us. It’s so sweet to see how much thought the boys put into each other’s gift and how excited they get when they open their gifts. Nothing makes me smile more than to see them hugging and thanking each other. I pray moments like these last forever. I hope they remain as close as they are now.
The teenage years are approaching and they scare me; hormones are already starting to rage and I see the changes in them. I pray they will never fight, especially physically. I would get so scared when my brothers fought, it was crazy. And to see my dad get involved broke my heart. TJ told me there will come a time when he will have to fight them…I can’t see that happening. Now I could see me kick’n TJ’s ass, but I can’t see TJ fighting with any of our boys.
It is this time of year that I miss my family most. Nothing made me smile more when I was younger then when my mom would pull out the Christmas decorations so we could decorate. I loved it more when she asked me to help her wrap gifts. Christmas was always so magical for me. Nothing was harder though then when we buried my grandfather on Christmas Eve. I remember leaving the burial site in my sisters brown Pinto station wagon, as we drove away; they were putting my grandfather in his grave and throwing the dirt over him. It broke my heart…it was so hard to watch; I cried so much. Although it was hard for me, I love that I think of my grandfather without fail every Christmas Eve. I dismiss the burial and think about how sweet and caring he was.
Every Christmas Eve my mom would make a HUGE fish dinner. We usually had shrimp scampi, scallops, spaghetti with clam sauce, stuffed calamari, cold seafood salad, and clam dip…and whatever else I missed. It was amazing! This was one of my favorite traditions. After dinner came dessert then clean up then open the presents. There were always wall to wall gifts for everyone! When we were younger, Santa would always make an appearance at the house…what fun that was! I hope I can make Christmas as special for my boys, as my parents did for me, so they will cherish those memories like I do forever.
We had a nice evening tonight. We relaxed all day, showered and headed to church. We were invited by a special lady to her church for Christmas Eve Service. It was a performance that had a great message; the boys loved it. After that we headed home, fed the boys, exchanged our secret Santa gifts, had dessert and sent them off to bed. TJ and I got everything ready for Santa and now here we are…with our 12 year old who can’t sleep J
I love this time of year, I love its meaning, I love my family and friends…I love my life! I am so thankful to God for blessing me with so much.
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