Surrounded By Love

I'm sitting on the floor in my family room right now and it is utter chaos around me.  Our little house on our little street is packed to the gills and there is currently a major wii basketball game happening and the volume is at a 10 out of 10....all the cousins are having an all out war, egged on by their Uncle Michael.

Fun times...and memory making for everyone involved.  That, to me, is what the holidays are all about. Quiet will come later...but quiet is always so much more appreciated when it has followed chaos, just as chaos is always much more fun when it follows times of deep silence.

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We've had lots of big family dinners this week...the kind of dinners where a massive amount of food is prepared and then gobbled down in about 5 minutes.  Sometimes that drives me crazy, but then I figure it would be worse to not have anyone around inhaling the food that I make, so instead I focus on what is really happening around me...people talking and laughing and eating and taking a few minutes out of their day to sit and spend time together.

More memory making.

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In between all the cooking and cleaning up, there has been time spent in gyms watching the youngest of my bunch play basketball.  There's also been a few quiet moments for me....time I spent on my favorite trail followed by a few minutes where I slipped into a pew in a neighborhood church and had a few minutes thanking my Savior for being just that.  My Savior. 

Boy, do I ever need Him.  And boy, does he ever continue to show His presence to me.  

I've been thankful for many things this season so far...thankful that while the money going out is more than the money coming in, the bills still somehow keep getting paid.  Thankful that this holiday season I have been able to keep my heart (and head) focused where it should be.  Thankful for my little house on my little street.  Thankful for my family...and especially thankful that this year was much easier in the boy raising department than the previous year.  Thankful that I have a guy that likes me so much...even when I am not especially likable.

Not that I'm unlikeable very often.

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I am not even close to being tired of the Christmas decorations yet this season and believe it or not, I am not even close to feeling like I've had too many parties in 2012.  Just the opposite...as I sit here I am thinking that there has to be time enough to squeeze just a little more out of this year. 

Anyone up for a cocktail?  

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