Hustle and Bustle

"Happiness...is not a destination: it is a manner of traveling. Happiness is not an end in itself: it is a by-product of working, playing, loving, and living."

~Haim Ginott

I stood in front of the fridge, looking at the calendar for December, feeling a mix of annoyance and excitement. The list of things to do, things that take away from our family time, and fun seasonal events that will be a part of creating our family’s Christmas memories are what’s staring back at me. It’s the yin and the yang. I find the blackest pen I can, and knock out a week of the to do’s with a big X and find myself feeling much more satisfied. Closely followed is the sinking feeling that time is slipping away, way too quickly. 

We’ve had the fun of allowing our little girl her first sips of cocoa, a gingerbread cookie, and a covered pretzel and watching her expressions change from “ugh what is that?” to “give me more...now!!!”. We’ve put up our Christmas decorations and watched her stare at the tree, so huge next to her, in awe and mischief. She’s collected Christmas bulbs from the bottom part of the tree and run away with a silly smirk as I come for them. She knows!! We’ve watched Elf, reciting lines and cracking up with the same intensity as the first time we ever saw it. Watching Arthur Christmas, we laughed at the antics of GrandSanta, Santa, Steve, and Arthur and especially that little elf who wraps the bike Arthur is bringing to the little girl AS he’s riding it. That part specifically is made to look super serious, Matrix like and that’s what makes these kids movies these days worth watching if you’re an adult. Being pregnant, I also cried...go figure.

Upcoming is the first trip to see Santa, which as long as little girl is not needing a nap, has a hope of not being tear filled. We have the opportunity to see our baby in utero, who will be 20 weeks and although we CAN find out the gender, we’re requesting they put the gender photo in a separate envelope so we can put it under our Christmas tree. With eager anticipation of such knowledge, we will open it on Christmas morning. There are crafts to make, cookies to bake, and a whole slew of other Christmas favorites to watch (now that we’re down to crunch time). 

In retrospect, I don’t want the time to speed by any more than it is, so we can have the time to fully take it all in. This magical time only comes but once a year and I don’t want to miss it!