And so it begins......

Winter break has begun for me! It was actually a pretty fun week considering the kids were wound up lol:) It was a nice way to lead into the holiday.....Today the kids have school which is a blessing! As soon as I drop Mads off at school I am heading to my parent's house to get their gifts. I had everything shipped there, and will bring it back to the basement and spend this weekend wrapping while they are with their dad. They will be home on Christmas Eve in time for church! :) And then I have them the rest of this week! I think we will grab a couple of hikes and hatch a fun plan for NYE...... there is also a light place I want to check out at a Golf Course I have heard about. And there have been Winter breaks that were jam packed with plans every day in the past and those were great......back to back entertaining....and dinner parties and visiting.....and other years a quieter vibe.....and I am actually happy for the latter this year.....we will have Christmas dinner at my mom's house, and I will make breakfast in the morning when they come up to my place.....holiday and tradition is so important.....and I have been blessed with so many beautiful memories growing up and doing all the special things....and some of those traditions I wish had lasted forever....never knowing that THAT time around my grandparent's table was the last one.....you never know those things....so it is so important to hang onto them.....and hold those memories in special places.....life has changed so much since then, it is sometimes hard to comprehend.....I was talking to a friend the other day about all of that.....the sense of living lifetimes within our lifetime.....or feeling that way....like chapters in a book....and they felt the same....feeling as if parts of their life too felt like that......and I wonder what that is that makes us feel that way.....how one part of our life, in the remembering of it, feels like it was cut off and a whole separate space....but I am sure that many people can relate......and maybe that is the point....the point is to realize we should cherish life when it is good, while also knowing that our challenging times have an expiration date.....NOTHING lasts forever....including suffering....and the moment and lifetime we have is the present one....the one that we are living....and we can look back with fondness on Christmas past...and perhaps hopeful to our future ones....but really we need to just be present in the one we are living and revel in it:) I plan on that...enjoying the magic of Santa still living in my home....the peace of Christmas Eve church service........and excited and expectant faces on Christmas morning....and time spent with those I love! Happy Friday y'all:)