Happy Holidays!

This year we spent a quiet Thanksgiving at home thanks to my injury. I went and tore my ACL and meniscus and had knee surgery on November 11th. Recovery is not going as quickly as I would like.

I think M&M love just spending time at home with me so it all worked out.

A lot has changed since 2014:

And even more since 2013:

We also made our annual trip to visit Santa! M&M were less than impressed!

Much like in 2014:

They warmed up to Santa a little when he came to their school:

They did just as good visiting Santa for the first time in 2013:

We also celebrated my 30th birthday, which was also 10 years exactly since I walked in and met Mike for the very first time:

Despite it overall being a terrible day, there were some definite highlights. 

Beautiful gifts to make me smile:

M&M were in their very Christmas program at their school. They sang Jingle Bells and Happy Birthday Jesus! It was sooooo cute!

My best friend also surprised me by coming up here with my mom. Sometimes you just need your girlfriend! 

As the kids get older, 2 is proving to be quite the challenging age. But their zest for life and learning new things is so exciting. It amazes me that I'm the lucky one who gets to be their mom.

The kids were very much in to Christmas this year. The excitement and joy this year was magical really. I loved watching them talk about it and get excited about it and go crazy Christmas morning.

But, for as long as I can remember I had this dream for my family on Christmas morning.  When I was a little girl, we would spend the night Christmas Eve at my grandmother's house, wake up bright and early, the kids sneaking downstairs to get everyone's stockings and see what Santa brought everyone, then climb back in bed and enjoy our goodies. Since then, I've dreamt of my first Christmas with MY family, and MY husband, and MY children doing something similar.  Only, that hasn't and won't happen. I didn't even get one single Christmas with my family. It devastates me that my children have been robbed of the joy of spending their Christmas with both of their parents and with that, that I lost the excitement and joy I too once felt around Christmas. I'm thankful I have these two beautiful children to call me mom, who love me more than anyone else, and I get to share new and exciting memories with, even if they weren't the way I planned.