During our advent season, our little family read many scriptures and reflected together. One particular verse stood out to me in a big way (a rare occurrence when I read the bible mind you) and charged me with being fully present during our Christmas season. Luke 2:19 reads “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” While those wild shepherds were out shouting and gossiping about the magical birth of Jesus, Mary kept this news close and quiet and was fully present with her newborn son. After reading this story, I felt charged to do the same – to engage and be content with our moments in my heart versus being concerned with filters and clever hashtags (no offense to all of you holiday posters – I loved them all!!!). I felt truly at peace this past week and didn’t once feel the squeeze or pressure sometimes I feel during the holidays to have everything perfect (as compared to everyone else’s I see on FB/insta)…each night I took time to reflect and embrace and love on the day in my heart no matter how it turned out.

Here a few moments that made our week wonderful and peaceful:

A tradition that Scott and I started years ago was opening letters to each other on Christmas morning. This year, I not only loved my letters but reading others loving words to each other as well. WG’s letter in particular came after a very hard Christmas Eve wth Scott at work and high anxiety around him not returning home on Christmas morning. It makes me cry how much Scott’s loving actions impact her and re-wire her beliefs about love and fathering.

Having only one celebration per day gave us quiet mornings to enjoy our new treasures and start our days off slow and steady. This type of morning requires a cozy robe and juice out of a fancy glass of course.

They say your cousins are your first friends. For me, as one of the oldest, they were my first practice runs at being a bossy mcbosserpants mama. Now they are all grown up and I still love spending time with them! Our big Weber get together was wonderful and filled with fun as usual and now we get to start new traditions and new relationships to carry on that fun together.

One perk to never leaving my hometown is that all my friends come back to me during the holidays! This year, I got to meet my beloved Kara Lynn’s little man and sheesh look at that hunk of adorableness!!! Although we are states apart, our lives are entangled in so many ways as well as our hearts and I love that.

My brothers are pretty big dorks and when together they are inappropriate and immature dorks, but I love them anyway. Getting them all together in a room is a dangerous recipe for bad jokes and an annoyed mother but it also makes my heart so happy. I love how much my littles love them and feel connected to our extended family.

Coming later this week – our favorite gifts we gave and received, top moments of 2015 and what’s next for TBD in 2016!

P.S. One of my favorite pieces of this blog is that it is a tool to help me remember and document these small moments so I can treasure them again and again when my memory fades and when our family changes in the future. Thank you to all those who mentioned to me that you read my words and musings on life – I appreciate your kind encouragements about keeping it going not only as a tool for myself, but a possible resource or connection for others whose lives may parallel pieces of ours. Happy holidays to all of you!!