Blessings

Yeah, I know I’ve been quiet again.  Christmas is a tough time of year for me.  By this point in the holiday season (this year not excluded) I’m generally more like the Grinch than any of the other characters from Christmas movies.  There are just too many “extra” things to do at this time of year...shopping and baking and decorating and wrapping and cards, oh my.  Might be different if any of the regular things that need to get done would conveniently go away in December to make way for the seasonal stuff, but no...somehow lunches and dinners and laundry and cooking and errands and child transport to sporting events still need to happen, just with all the other stuff added in as well.  It gets overwhelming.  I suspect that just about every adult who is primarily responsible in his or her household for making the holiday “magic” happen feels the same way.  I was having lunch with my husband at our favorite Thai place one day this week (he was off from work) and a friend walked in.  We chatted with her for a few minutes, and while we were talking the song, “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” started playing in the restaurant.  My friend looked me straight in the eyes and said, “No, it isn’t.”  At least it isn’t just me.  She says she’s way more partial to Thanksgiving.

Anyway, Thing One has one of his college ID soccer camps tomorrow.  (I.e., camps for high schoolers who want to play college soccer, run by college coaches.)  Because it is the better part of three hours from home and starts at 8AM, we decided to drive up today and stay overnight.  It is now 8PM, and I’m sitting in the hotel room thinking about what went *right* today.

*Petunia and I had fun decorating Christmas cookies before Thing One and I left home.

*There was a huge wreck on the major highway between home and here that caused us to be about an hour later than intended getting up here, but since we left early, it didn’t matter.

*We weren’t IN the wreck.

*Even with the delay, we had time to walk around the (gorgeous) major well-known university near here, and the kid let me take several pics of him there without grumbling, even though he did tell me at one point that I reminded him of a Japanese tourist!  It will not surprise anyone that he also insisted that I drive him to this university’s (separate) soccer facility as well so that he could check that out too.

*Most importantly, my son is a really good kid, and I enjoy his company.  This one on one time is priceless, and the opportunity for it is dwindling.  He’s already 15 and a sophomore.  I cherish every minute I get, so I really don’t mind going on the road trips with him even if it does mean driving for hours each way and/or watching soccer in heat/snow/rain/gale force winds etc!  Tonight, as we sat in a Greek diner eating burgers and discussing why hominids arose in Africa and not anywhere else on earth (don’t ask me why, he brought up that topic!) I was struck by how fortunate a woman I am.

I just need to remind myself of that fact daily from now until the 26th!