Thankful Tuesday

1. I enjoyed being able to run 9.5 miles between two runs last Wednesday and Thursday when the weather was very pleasant outside.

2. We had a special day on Christmas Eve between our donuts for breakfast, opening presents with the kids, and the kids and I enjoyed the candlelight service at church.

3. On Friday we enjoyed spending several hours at Paul's parents house (also spent time with Al, Millie, and Shawn). We enjoyed a yummy meal and exchanged gifts.

4. I'm thankful that we had a safe trip to and from Maryland and that Oliver slept for most of the ride home today. At one point I was the only one awake in the vehicle. It's a good thing I was awake as I was the driver! I am also grateful that Wendy and her family arrived safely at 4:00 am on Saturday in the rental vehicle since theirs broke down in Indiana around noon on Friday. It would have been awesome to be with Yvonne and her family also, but we were able to watch a 45 minute movie they created with my dad last summer which was special.

5. During our four days in Maryland, the kids enjoyed playing with their cousins. Nadia was determined to go with the Benners to Williamsburg this morning; she did not want to be separated from her cousin, Rachel. I enjoyed a couple of rounds of Apples to Apples Junior yesterday, but we didn't get our annual game of Boggle in this time. We exchanged presents on Saturday morning, went caroling in my parents' neighborhood on Saturday night, went to church and Sunday School with my parents on Sunday morning, ice skating on Sunday evening, watched the Steelers lose on Sunday afternoon (SO sad because of the playoff implications), went bowling Monday morning, and six (out of the fourteen of us) went to see the new Star Wars movie at the theatre in 3D on Monday afternoon. Paul was the only member of our family who joined in that adventure. As an added bonus, I came in second place in the first game of bowling (Drayton won). I bowled a little  better than usual and my Dad and Paul bowled worse than usual. It is VERY rare that I beat either of them in bowling. It was fun to get some spares and strikes, especially as I bowled very badly on December 10.

6. I am thankful that we are healthy. Usually we come back from Christmas in Maryland with a virus of some sort (respiratory or stomach). Last year we came back with both and Oliver ended up in the PICU with a collapsed lung. It is a huge relief to come back not having caught any bugs this time!

7. We came back to a very clean house. I had the house in "ready to be shown" condition when we left on Friday morning in case the realtor contacted me while we were away. It would have been great to have the house shown yesterday or today because the five times it's been shown thus far we have always had to leave the house just because of the showing. I thought it would be very convenient for it to happen while we were out of town, but even though that didn't happen it was nice to come home to a clean house. It is probably the first time I was ever doing things like mopping the kitchen floor and cleaning bathrooms in the morning on Christmas Day. Of course once we arrived back home the house became very cluttered with suitcases, Christmas gifts, etc, but I worked hard to do laundry, put away suitcases, put away Christmas gifts, etc. tonight and tomorrow I plan to put away the Christmas tree and other decorations.

8. I had a nice long (about 3 hour) chat with my sister last night. That was an extremely rare treat. We usually only see each other once a year so those opportunities are very few and far between. I love her very much!

9. I know that at least some of the gifts I gave were "winners" in that the person seemed to really appreciate what we gave them. Paul's niece really liked the placemats I made her two children through Shutterfly, for example.

10. My mom and I enjoyed watching the movie "War Room" on dvd together on Friday night. I always watch "chick flicks" by myself so it was very nice to be able to watch it with someone.

11. We received many nice gifts over our "three days of Christmas." I am not attempting to list everything we received but just a few highlights that pop into my head right now. Hopefully when I start having the kids write their thank you notes I will be able to accurately recall who gave them what as I forgot to make a list again. Oops. One of these years I'll remember to do that hopefully. Nadia and Ian can't wait to try out their two new Wii games tomorrow. They each started assembling one of their Lego sets this evening. Nadia enjoyed doing Ariel's hair in the bathtub at Grandma's house yesterday afternoon. I am very grateful Paul received a few new pairs of jeans because it means I don't have to keep repairing his old ones any more. We will all enjoy our gift cards to Friendly's. I am really looking forward to a new laptop computer from my parents because mine is six years old and on its last legs. Now to figure out if I need a cd-rom drive or not.

12. Nadia lost a tooth in Maryland. She really wanted this to happen again since it did the last two years, and her wish came true. She has one more wiggly tooth, and she told me she wanted to wait until next December to pull it out. Nope a tooth won't wait that long, ha ha!

13. I've been doing this free instant win game on the Coke rewards website the past 20 days (it ends on Thursday), and I've won a few things along the way ($20 off of Shutterfly, 270 Coke points, and a free personalized bottle of Coke), but yesterday I won a $25 gift certificate to one of three restaurants (Bonefish Grill, Outback Steakhouse, etc.). That was nice!

The kids we wished were with us this Christmas, but we look forward to seeing them again sometime in 2016 or 2017.