mi vida loca: A holiday night to remember

A I don’t know what I ever did in this life or my past to get such amazing and thoughtful children – but I sure am glad I have them no matter what the reason. This Christmas has been kind of wonky – as the norm usually is these days. Dale is going to SC to visit with his mom and family on the 22^nd… Chris is heading to Mexico on a cruise with his father, stepmom and grandmother - Mom and Dave won’t be coming into town this year and Tim and Kelly are heading to NC to spend Xmas with Dad and Betty. I’m probably driving up on Saturday, stopping in to visit with the rents ( shhhh. Don’t tell them!! LOL ) and then heading to where Dale is. So with all of that going on, I haven’t exactly been in the holiday spirit much. And not being able to do a lot of xmas shopping has really put a damper on things too. Last year, we said farewell to our xmas tree stand… after 13 hard and devoted years, it finally had enough and broke. I’ve been meaning to get a replacement, but it hasn’t been high on my list of priorities. So the only decorations I’ve put up have been the garland on the mantle, and wrapped around the banister of the stairs. It doesn’t look too shabby actually!

Well obviously not having a tree was NOT going to do for my daughter. After picking Ryan up from his house for the week, we stopped off to see Ashley at work and then she was going to come straight here after. Dale paced the floor anxiously awaiting Ashley to get home so he could surprise Ryan with the new cell phone that we got for him. Ryan’s been the only one without a cell phone – never really seemed fair to me. In order to learn responsibility, he has to be given a chance to prove he CAN be responsible. So we were finally able to add a line to our acct and got him this really kewl Optimus T Android phone. When he opened the box, you would have thought we had given him a million dollars. He is totally LOVING his phone! Well then Ashley announces that SHE has a surprise for US… she and Ryan scamper off to her car, and up the stairs she and Ryan come with a xmas tree in a box. It was one that they usually had in their room at their Dad’s house. They had asked their dad and stepmom if it was okay if they brought one of them to our house since we didn’t have a tree ( we still have the tree – its just the stand that is missing ). And like a baby I cried! Where did these amazing children get such a big and giving hearts? I have never been more proud of them then in that moment.

And THEN.. as if that wasn’t enough – Ashley said she bought all of us ornaments. A tradition I started years ago was that each of us got a new ornament every year – something that is significant to US and who we are… like when Ashley was a baby the ornament we got for her is a baby bear crawling over a toy box because that Xmas her grandparents had gotten her a toy box. Last year Ryan got a green dinosaur and Chris got one with a chef hat and frying pan ( because he said he wanted to be a chef for dogs! J ) So here she is not only being considerate enough to bring a tree for us to have, but she also carried on our tradition. Just wow…. Every time I think about it , or look at the tree, or the ornaments, I want to break into tears ( and sometimes do ) because I’m just so darn proud and bursting at the seams with love for my children and what amazing human beings they are turning out to be. Even Chris has not asked for much this Christmas, but asked if we could buy a game for one of his online buddies out in California instead. I mean just AMAZING… here are some photos of our night… a night I truly will never forget.. and hopefully they never will either.

Dale was showing Ryan how kewl Chris' phone is...