All the Joy

I've been in a blogging holding pattern lately, just posting pictures on Wednesday instead of anything substantial. Is this the new normal? I hope not! But, like I said before, my daughter's gymnastics schedule is kicking my blogging butt.

Probably the answer is to get more organized, and hopefully I'll get there at some point, but right now I'm focusing on SURVIVAL (and finishing this draft of one of my WiPs).

However, I did have a fantastic Christmas. It was so amazing because...

1) My sister came to visit from Hong Kong. She's the same one who has taken the pictures I've been posting the last couple weeks. I hope she had a good time -- I certainly did. It's really hard that she lives so far away, especially because I have to rely on her to visit us most of the time (because transporting a family of seven to Hong Kong is just not in the budget). She's a world traveler and just an amazing person, and my kids had a blast seeing their auntie. At the end of the week, it was really hard to say goodbye, especially when we don't know when we'll see each other again. The happy-sadness of life.

Aunt Michelle making sugar cookies with the kiddos

2) My hubby is a high school teacher, so he had two weeks off! ... and since it's winter, there was no backyard work to be done. (Woot!) Though he did put in some time grading, he was home the ENTIRE time. Which was amazing. We haven't really had a stay-at-home-all-together time in a long while. He taught summer school last summer, and then worked on his big backyard project every spare moment, so this vacation was just ... bliss. Sometimes I'd sneak away to my bedroom and shut the door and write, write, write and he took care of everything perfectly. Did my introverted soul good. *happy sigh*

3) We had a white Christmas! Snow. Lots of it! Pouring from the sky. And it just melted a few days ago, so we had it for a good, long time, which is unusual for our area. The kids were actually getting sick of it by the end. Also unusual.

I have a lot to be thankful for! Did you get a holiday break? What was the highlight?