Made It Through the Holidays

It was hard.  There were tears and sobs.  I barely made it through the Bible reading before opening gifts.  And it was weird, even a guilty feeling, knowing they weren't buying you any gifts.  We spent too much money.  I was over compensating for not buying you anything.  Maybe we all were.
Your daughter got a night stand.  You would love it.  Very plain; grey and white....just your colors.  Dad painted the outside white and kept the inner cubbies the original grey. 
Your son got a Lego set of Trafalgar Square.  That was their big gift from mom and dad.  I got skies.  I'm now a skier and trying to take more days off to spend time with dad up on the mountain.  He is big on drills...Lord help my shins.
Your baby also got a mountain bike.....because we know how much he loves extreme sports...ha, ha.  And your eldest got a chrome book....it's huge.  She loves it and they set it up right way.  They were the only ones who got stockings this year.....(well, I got one the next day because mom knows my heart.)  Ben did great on gifts!  Next year I will do better.  I think he wants gifts that he can work/figure out during Christmas day.  Electronics.
That night mom, dad, and I went to the night service so we could listen to a choir singing so our minds focus on the birth of our Christ.  It was emotional for me.  You have better music and I'm sure your singing nonstop with the voices of all the angels. 
The coffee cake was delish!!  And you would have loved it.  Someone else made the eggs..... Mom was surprised.  And we had sausage instead of bacon.  I thought mom was going to start crying but we had a little Christmas of our own the next day and she made her bacon then....and burnt it; poor mom.
They tried their best with the Advent Calendar.  Ben is tired and I don't know if planning is really his calling.  But for a 'Fly By the Seat of their Pants' Advent year I think it went pretty well.  One night they went to buy Onzie PJ's and went off to the zoo lights.

And Christmas morning I took them to the traditional trip to the airport.  And they were off.

So we have survived Thanksgiving and Christmas.  The magic is gone; it left in April.  Knowing it was never going to be the same.  Waiting for the 'holidays' to end and thinking non-holidays have less pain.