Our tree and all the presents.
Going to look in the stockings.
Who knew a $5 hat could make a kid so happy?
Surprised and loving the soft fleece camo robe.
Happy he got the ripstick.
Psyched he got the watch he wanted (affordable from the annual factory sale).
Trying out the new video game: Split Second for xBox360
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Big stick found on nature walk/bike ride after dinner.
Typical boy thing: smashing the ice with a stick. My son with his cousin having a blast. (Appreciating that boys are so much easier than girls to parent.)
Lovely ice.
The pods released their seeds.
My brother and his wife assist their son pretending to ride my son's bike. He loved it and I said maybe he could learn to ride it but they said his coordination challenges related to his Autism will always limit him to a three wheeled bike.
Between the present-opening and the walk we ate a formal dinner with my parents, my brother, his wife and their two sons. The company was calm, happy and easy to be around. The food was delicious. It was quiet and peaceful in my home.
After the nature walk we went to my husband's cousin's home for an evening party. There were probably 50 people there, a large happy crowd each year. This year it felt a bit off since the man of the house recently passed away. Also, another cousin passed away suddenly in his sleep two days before Christmas. It was hard for me to see his wife and two adult children obviously upset as people gave their condolences. I find what my grandmother's Hospice nurse was right, with each death we experience it brings up emotions from other deaths we've experienced. Thus the passing of a distant relative may hit us hard as it reminds us of a past loss of someone closer to us. I think some of us also feel empathy for what the other people are going through which brings us down even more.
It was a good Christmas but one with varying emotions, ups and downs. I think we have a good life despite the challenges and imperfections. The amount of good still far outweighs the bad. It's all about perspective and how you choose to look at your situation: focus on the minutae and complain about one little problem or look past the nonsense and try to focus on the good stuff instead. At the end of the day we can't erase all the problems we may have so why not choose to feel the joy from the good things?
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