One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess
created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly.
~Andy Rooney
It was an exciting Christmas holiday 2015! The holidays are always emotional – and as a
mother of 2 teenagers emotions run high.
Especially this year - the word bittersweet takes on a whole new meaning. Having a 17
and 15 year old becomes a reminder that my babies are growing up! They meticulously open each gift, looking for
the garbage bag beside them to discard the paper. They take a break between each gift to admire
it in lieu of putting it down to immediately open the next one. They stop and pose for each picture to ensure
I captured the moment the first time.
The say thank you after each gift because they realize I actually was
listening when they were talking about their desires.
I’m not sure how babies become these little
adult human beings – kind and appreciative of the hard work put into providing –
wanting to savor the morning and the memories being written in their memory
banks that will last a lifetime. There was a time I was clicking photos AND
picking up their paper at the same time (my goal was the less mess the better –
never enjoying the moment). Not this
year, I just took it all in.
Several things proved different this year
also – learning to hide gifts at work – and not forgetting to bring them home;
to getting a wish list – which was difficult this year; to sleeping until
almost 10:00am – sleep “is so much fun” they say (and teenagers are always
tired, unless it is midnight). It was a blessed Christmas!! Granted it rained all week AND it was almost
80 degrees – actually, it rained the week before Christmas also – so it was a
warm and wet Christmas. It has been a
long time since we have had a warm Christmas in Alabama…usually we only have
those in Florida.
Here is a snapshot of Christmas Day
