Happy New Year!

Be safe, have fun and hug (and kiss) the ones you love! Best wishes in 2009!

Love,
Jessica

Happiness Is ...

... sitting on my couch with delicious coffee and my laptop.

... new music and finding myself in the lyrics.

... a clean house.

... a good night's sleep.

... Christmas over and (almost) the best one I could have asked for.

... watching my kids morph into mini-adults, with thoughts and opinions and goals.

... having a job I enjoy, am good at and am appreciated for.

... living in a place with 4 distinct seasons, mountains, electric blue skies and options, options, options.

... my Christmas tree.

... being content in this place. Right here, right now.

What Christmas Looks Like Here

This is the first year for my children and me to celebrate Christmas our way. In contemplating what traditions I'd like to start, I thought of a lot of things that we could do or that I know other people do. But I finally settled on a couple of things that we really like.

This afternoon we saw The Tale of Despereaux. When we left the theater, we drove around looking at Christmas lights in neighborhoods we've never seen. We got lost. Hey, it was dark and we were in a town I haven't spent much time in.

When we came home, we lit all the Christmas candles we have and sat around the table in our pajamas. We drank hot chocolate and talked about all the great things that have happened this year. We talked about the things we look forward to next year. We talked about last Christmas, which was spent less than a mile from here in a blizzard.

I gave each child the one gift that I knew would make an impact tonight. I know they'll like the rest of their things but these particular gifts were the "really cool" ones. Right now, they are watching The Polar Express and clutching their "really cool" gifts. I have the beginnings of homemade cinnamon rolls on the stove. I will finish wrapping a few family gifts tonight and bake the cinnamon rolls.

In the morning we will unwrap the rest of our gifts and have Eggs Benedict and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We will be lazy, enjoy our gifts and watch A Christmas Story on television. Then we'll head over to Jennifer and Caleb's for Christmas dinner. It's going to be a great day.

Obviously, not every Christmas will be like this one. But I think we'll definitely go light browsing, watch a Christmas movie or two, talk about the past year and have cinnamon rolls and Eggs Benedict. It sounds good to me!

Merry Christmas, all!

P.S. The kids were not impressed with my Eggs Benedict. I guess we'll have to scratch that one. Bummer.

I Spit-Laughed

I've been told by various people that Arrested Development is/was the best television show ever. I finally started watching it on Hulu and I am only sad that I didn't watch it sooner. Jennifer and I watched the first 5 episodes last night and I am embarrassed to admit that I made a fool of myself. Not only did I spill an entire glass of red wine, but I also laughed so hard I spit a mouthful of water on myself, the sofa, the coffee table and the floor.

Don't tell Jim Halpert, but I might have a new favorite television show.

Tomorrow's To Do List

I am, unexpectedly, not working tomorrow morning and possibly not the afternoon, either. This is nice because I have a bunch of stuff that really needs doing and extra free time is so needed. In order to maximize my time (I've been known to waste entire mornings at this laptop with coffee in my hand), I'm making a list. I will cross off everything I do to keep myself accountable.

1. organize my desk, file old bills and school projects
2. fold two loads of laundry
3. sweep and mop all hard surface floors
4. make a Target run
5. pick up the Holiday Shop gifts Samuel left at school
6. send candy grams to the kids at school
7. finish making _________ for some Christmas gifts
8. dust the furniture
9. unload the dishwasher

Alright. It's bedtime and I'm already one step ahead of tomorrow. I hope to keep it that way.

Family

I consider myself a very fortunate person when it comes to family. I really enjoy my family. Really, though most of my family is biological and choice in the matter is limited; not a bad thing at all, I'm just sayin'. Obviously, we all make the choice to spend time together but it's an easy choice. I got lucky.

One of my family members is a family member by choice, though. He became part of our family when he married my sister. He's extremely intelligent, funny and just plain fun to be around. I see those qualities a lot. He's also generous and he demonstrated that exceptionally this week.

As I mentioned on Sunday, my parking brake froze on Saturday night. My brother-in-law made it his mission on Sunday to get my vehicle drivable again. It was cold, the weather was nasty and I'm pretty sure he'd have preferred to watch football. Then, when my car again didn't run on Monday morning, he came over to pick up the kids and me. He dropped us off at school and work, making himself late for work. Finally, he came over yesterday evening when it was dark and 0 F to work on my car again. He fought with it all the way down a very busy street to drop it off at a brake shop.

Caleb. Thank you, thank you, thank you. A million times, thank you.

And while I'm at it, let me brag on my sister, too. She doesn't think so, but she possesses enormous patience and self-control. She never hesitates to open her home and volunteer herself for watching my children when I have to work. She goes out of her way to do fun things with all the kids. She's constantly feeding us and doing various other things that make my life easier. While my vehicle was out of commission she drove across town 6 separate times to pick us up or drop us off. She's like another mother to my children. And she's my best friend.

I am so very fortunate to have these two people in my life. They're wonderful individuals and a great team. I can't think of two people better suited to each other. (Unless you count my parents, or maybe my grandparents. I told you I was fortunate.) They are raising two cool little boys and I know one day those boys will realize how fortunate they are to have these parents.

I love you guys.

I know it sounds awfully convenient to be saying all of this after the couple of days I've had. But you know, when things like this happen it makes me so grateful for the family I have.

Loss of Innocence

Poor Solomon. A friend lied to him today. He said it's the first time anyone has ever lied to him and his feelings are really hurt.

I've been told that it only gets harder to be a parent as your children grow older. This is one of the reasons that is true.

The Mom Song

I think this woman has been a fly on the wall in my home. I'm tired just listening to her.

Today Didn't Go As Planned

When this happens, do not leave your emergency brake set. If you do, you might spend 3 hours of your day trying to buy snow chains, contemplating new tires and finally discovering that the emergency brake was simply frozen. In conclusion, do not leave your emergency brake set all night. Lesson learned.

My New Profile Photo

See that? It's pure awesomeness. No explanation necessary. Let us take a moment to bask in the glow of the awesomeness that is The Office. Amen.

I bought myself the complete Fourth Season of The Office for Christmas. I got it from a friend of an online friend, in unopened packaging, for about half of what it costs at Best Buy or Target. Paypal, message boards and the internets all coming together to bring me a gift I love. It's such a beautiful thing. It even comes with the script to one of the best episodes of that season. :geeks out:

The only problem is that my touch of OCD and procrastinating perfectionism is keeping me from watching any of it yet. My house is quickly nearing that previously alluded to state of chaos which means that I will spend the better part of today decluttering, organizing, sweeping, mopping and dusting until I am able to flop on my sofa and do nothing -- nothing but fully and truly appreciate all that Season Four has to offer.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

We Have Been Inoculated

I debated getting flu shots for the kids this year. I usually get one, being a nurse and being exposed to all manner of microorganisms. But the kids have never gotten them. They're not in a high risk category. And I sometimes wonder if we're over-inoculating ourselves these days. I'm a tad nervous of super germs being the demise of the human race.

But we got the flu last season and that was what finally tipped the scales for me. It was hell -- two weeks of hell. Apparently last year's flu prediction was off and people who got flu shots, myself included, only had about 25% protection. Ironically, I was the sickest in the family. Miriam was very close behind me. Samuel recovered pretty quickly. Solomon escaped altogether; one good thing about him spending 5 months in Albuquerque.

So, off we went to the office yesterday afternoon for flu vaccines. I bribed the kids with McDonald's Happy Meals. They reluctantly agreed. I wanted to tell them that there was a chance they could have nasal spray instead of a shot. I resisted, though because I knew the office might be out and it would be wrong to get their hopes up about it.

When we got there, I asked my co-worker if there was any FluMist left. When I left work on Thursday afternoon there were a few doses left but everyone wants FluMist so I wasn't sure they would still be there. Luckily, there were some doses remaining so each of my children could get one. I cannot tell you how relieved they were.

Solomon went first. Ever the one for drama, he made some outrageous faces and then shouted that it was all stuck in his throat. After a few sips of water he was fine. Miriam went next and we almost didn't get the second half into her. She wasn't very happy with the first half and I had to hold her still. Then I had to coach her not to blow it into a tissue. Samuel was a real trooper and handled it better than the other two. And everyone was thrilled that there were no needles!

I, however, prefer to have a needle plunged into my deltoid. I cannot tolerate things in or around my nose. And there is no way I will voluntarily suck a liquid into my nostrils. No way, no how. Give me a shot. And my friend did. And I'm a little sore today.

I am relieved that we are doing all we can to avoid the flu. I was more worried about contracting the flu again than I realized. Let's hope the protection works this year. Supposedly, the FluMist contains more strains of the flu virus and therefore offers better protection than the injectable FluZone. This is good, considering that the kids come into contact with tons of stuff at school all day, every day. I push hand washing every chance I get but who knows what actually happens at school, right?

When we were finished I wondered aloud (jokingly) to the kids if they should still get Happy Meals since they didn't actually have to get a shot. They looked a little perplexed before they realized I was only kidding.

P.S. Another good thing about the FluMist -- because all of my children are younger than 9 years and because this is their first year for flu vaccine, if they had been injected, they'd have to return in 4 weeks for yet another injection. So we're avoiding 2 injections for each and getting better protection. :crosses fingers:

Repetitive Redundancies

• ATM machine
• PIN number
• VIN number
• hot water heater
• vaccine shot record
• GPS system

Why do people insist upon saying these things and making me want to throw things? Why?

Sigh

Trying to catch my breath here -- and catch up on my writing. I thought I might do that tonight. I am babysitting for Jennifer and Caleb and just vegging on the couch with my laptop. But I'm too tired.

I will be back. I have a lot to say; just not a lot of time or energy these days. Thanks for checking in, though.