Surviving the Weekend

As we neared last weekend, I felt an overwhelming sense of foreboding. I couldn't quite figure out why I was so stressed out and tried to chalk it up to some things going on at work and general holiday stuff. By the end of the weekend, I remembered. This is the weekend that knocks us off our feet - every single year. We've had pneumonia, triple ear infections, various colds, a broken washing machine, and [shudder] the lice. No wonder I seem to have a bit of post-traumatic stress going into this stretch.

If you got our annual Christmas letter, you may have read a note about an alleged not broken foot. Mike is currently at urgent care getting x-rays because two weeks later, the "not broken" foot is still extremely painful. He also went down with a stomach bug over the weekend. So I'd say the streak continues. [Update: not broken. deep bone bruise]

What I find most remarkable every year is that even as the weekend tries to take us down with it, we get through and still often manage some holiday fun. This year was no exception. We watched Elf for the first time as a family, and it was so fun to see the kids experience it. Fiona belly-laughed through the whole thing! That kid loves slapstick comedy!! They have been discussing their favorite parts for the last couple days and Quinn even pulled out a "Son of a Nutcracker" today at pick up.

Before the stomach bug took Mike out, we also made it to Winter Wonderland to look at the lights. This is a favorite tradition and it never disappoints. It was a mild night, so was very crowded. Instead of having our hot chocolate and cookies in the busy garage, we sat out by the bonfire and had a lovely time. Dec even saw a couple of his friends from school, which made him super proud.

The kids had the best time building their gingerbread house - and their skills are improving year over year. It's a good looking house ... and has about five pounds of candy on it! I also got all the presents wrapped and my three little elves were actually very helpful and didn't peek. Not even once.

On Sunday, I sang with the holiday choir at church. Our church's congregation is on the older side ... which was never so clear as when I ended up as the third member of the "children's choir" for one of the songs. As the third youngest member of the choir, the two teenagers and I were "the kids." It was fun to sing in a church choir again and a three-week practice schedule was just the right level of commitment. They've already started recruiting me for the Easter service choir.

While the streak continued, moments of fun peppered their way into the weekend. And those are what we will remember ... although I clearly also remembered the stress. But mostly the fun. Mostly.