We were seeing red...
and pink...
and white.
I have never seen so many poinsettias in all my life! What a fun way to get into the holiday spirit.
And now that I'm really in the mood for Christmas fun, December is half over. Having Jason home is just what we needed to get back on track. Without him, it just didn't feel right. And now it does.Leila has had a hard time adjusting to Daddy being home. She's upset because she knows he's leaving again so it's almost as if she won't relax and let her guard down. How do you explain deployment to a 3-year old? How can I help her understand why Daddy is here, then gone, then here, then gone again? In some ways, it's almost easier having him gone when I know that each time we're together it's just the beginning of another tough good-bye.
Sometime this week we're going to take our annual trek to visit Santa. We always see the same Santa, every year. He's at the mall where Jason and I met, fell in love, and got married. Yes, we got married at the mall. Well, not in the mall. In the mall parking lot. You think I'm joking? Totally serious. And we eloped too.Needless to say, we enjoy visiting that mall. And we always have a good laugh pointing out to the children the exact spot in the parking lot where Mommy and Daddy said "I do." They don't even think it' funny yet. Maybe they think everyone gets married in the mall parking lot? Who knows. That mall does have the best Santa though!
I have so many things to do while Jason is home and hardly enough time to do it all. Christmas cards? Haven't even gotten them printed yet. Gifts? Not wrapped. Not mailed. Cleaning, painting, unpacking? Well, that should be done right around the time that we get ready to move again in another year... hopefully.I spent a day preparing my brother's Christmas gifts. I'm sure he doesn't read my blog, so it's safe to say what he's getting. He recently broke up with his girlfriend (which is a good thing) and he's working, paying bills, has his very first apartment of his own, and he's sober. It's the best news I've heard in such a long time. I'm so happy for him, even though we still haven't spoken or seen each other since March. Because he doesn't cook, my dad suggested sending him food. I lovingly made a dozen different soup mixes for him, along with everything he needs to go in them. He's got everything (spices, noodles, beans, etc.) neatly prepared and a recipe attached with instructions to add water or milk and any additional ingredients (canned tomato, chicken, etc.) It's as close as I can get to giving him a homemade meal and it requires no cooking on his part... just add water and heat. I hope that we can reconcile this Christmas, but for now I'm showing my love for him by sending him food. Isn't that supposed to be a good way to show a man you care? Feed him?
I'm totally not going to tell my secret yet... although some of you already know what's going on here. I will say that those cameras you saw were not for the news. Although, there is news involved too, but that's a whole other story... Am I confusing you yet? 
Tomorrow Jason is taking me out for my birthday since he'll be gone for my actual birthday. I'm in denial that my twenties are coming to an end. Will everybody still think I'm cool when I'm thirty? (Ok, I'm really not cool now, but I can live in the past a bit, right?) Will I start getting gray hairs? Am I going to wrinkle up overnight? I'm scared. Thirty sounds so... grownup. And I'm not nearly mature enough to be a grownup yet.I'm turning 30 on December 30th. Isn't there a name for that, when you turn the same number as the day of your birth? Or did I just make that up?
Either way, I'm holding onto the last days of being a twentysomething.
My twenties brought me a husband, more than a dozen moves all around the country, and 6 amazing kids. How can my thirties compare to that? Like I said, I'm scared.
