2010 - revisited

This year has been oh SO FAST! I know they say that it just gets faster as you get older.... not real excited about that - but seriously, does it not feel like yesterday that we all celebrated 2010?

So, the highlights. I really thought about not doing this, but even though I don't have all the blogs to tell the story, I feel like I need to mark the big stories - good and bad - of 2010.

My baby showers in waiting for Josiah in April and May - how wonderfully humbling it is to have so many people that loved my baby before he even arrived!

Jon-Jon came home in May... as hard it is has always been to say goodbye to him - - the joy of celebrating his return is OH SO MUCH GREATER!

The end of the Congressional primary in June... it is always fun to be on the winning team!

Of course, the highlight of the year happened July 10 - when my precious son arrived on the scene. He has changed our lives in SO many ways! Our family went from 2 to 3 but that little addition has multiplied our love so much! I love Ronnie even more than before when I watch the way he loves his son! We are so blessed.

The most difficult part of my year came about 18 days later, when my friend, Brianna passed away while giving birth to her daughter. My heart hurt for Brianna's family, and even more for her daughter... such a beautiful little girl whose mom loved her so much! Even last week, when taking pictures of that little baby, so many times I just wanted to ask Brianna what kind of pictures she wanted me to take! It is hard to say goodbye to someone like that.

August, September, and October are a bit blurry. There were trips to Alabama - holidays, MANY firsts - and LOTS of pictures.... but the awe of being a mother was still a little overwhelming to me... and then November brought Josiah's first flights - just he and I, while Ronnie went to Thailand for 10 days. I have rarely been more proud of my husband than when watching him do what is right in the sight of God.

And, December, well - J's first Christmas has been amazing. and busy. But we celebrated Christmas in Gatlinburg first - and had a blast.... and then at home... and that was awesome with the three of us celebrating together, and cooking together, and eating together... I LOVED it! and then in Alabama... the first time since 2006 that EVERYONE has been together. my brother was not at war - I was not in VA.... we were together... mawmaw, pawpaw, mamaw, dena, danny, kelsie, paul, suzy, matthew, jon-jon, brantley (and their new one on the way!), jen, andy, aubrey, barrett, ronnie, josiah and me :)

crazy? yes. but, fun? yes.

it has been a year. a full year. a wonderful year. a tragic year. what does 2011 hold? I can hardly wait!

whoa - 2 days in a row! dont worry - just a christmas meme

ok - 10 for Christmas

1. Best childhood gift from Santa...

Gotta be the pink and purple 10 speed bicycle! I remember walking around the corner to see it and being actually disappointed at first because I thought that BIG PINK WHEEL was just a hula hoop!!! then I saw that it was attached to a full bike!!!

2. Best Childhood Christmas memory...

Jon, Jen and I all trying to sleep in the same room. I say its a childhood memory - - until the Christmas after Jen got married - this was still happening! Of course sleep didn't come early.... and Jon was always convinced we HAD to get up at like 4:00 to preserve the traditions set at the age of 6.... Jen and I would usually sleep in my queen sized bed and Jon would be on the floor - - unless we were in the basement - when jen and I would sleep on Jon's bunk beds and he would sleep on his water bed.... It just built the excitement!

3. Favorite Christmas Cookies...

Anything with chocolate qualifies here.

4. Icky Christmas memory...

I really dont think I have any!!

5. It's not Christmas without...

Family.... there have been two Christmases in my life when I was not with my family ON Christmas day. The first was when I was doing mission work in Germany... the second was last year. My family is ALL together ALL day long on that day,.. its just right to be together. Having said that - Jon and I haven't been together on Christmas since 2006 and won't be again this year as he is military and deployed... 2007 - he was deployed... 2008 I was in VA... and now 2009 he is deployed again....

6. Our church service...

I have only been to Christmas Eve services at my parent's church... its a 30 minute Communion service... a great experience to remember the night before Christmas!

7. Christmas Pet Peeve...

the "busy-ness"

8. Favorite Christmas CD....

This is a tough one - but I guess I have to go with anything Trans-Siberian Orchestra... the two times I have heard them live have made the cd's even better... some of the best performances I have ever seen!

9. Real or Fake?

Fake for us.... Fake AND pre-lit with white lights... we just get all crazy and add colored lights to have the variety - a trick I learned from my mom... plug them in separately, and on some nights it can be all white, some nights all colored, and sometimes - (most of the time) - it can be FULL with white AND colored lights on at the same time!

10. I spend Christmas Eve...

Prior to being married - Jon always delayed buying his Christmas presents until Christmas Eve... when I would go with him to figure out what we would buy for EVERYONE!!!

My favorite was the day that he called tha tmorning and just said "dress warm and bring a backpack"..... he wanted to drive his motorcycle to buy Christmas presents!! Luckily I talked him out of that one - but those were such fun days! Such a mass chaos of people trying to get so much done!! We just turned the music up and had a blast! It was one day we could always count on mom and dad breaking the rules.... they would both stay under budget - but before we left the house we would get a credit card, or extra cash handed to us privately with instructions to get just one more present for mom from dad... and for dad from mom... its just what we did!!

There ya go.... Christmas in a nutshell :)