Mothers Make Christmas.

Whelp. Here we are, folks. I can’t believe it, but Christmas is less than a week away. The tree is decorated, the Mouse is now out of school for Winter break, the presents are even bought and wrapped (it's a Christmas MIRACLE!). Because it’s ‘that’ time of year, we’re dealing with the usual: crazy random high fevers popping up for absolutely no reason, last minute chores (oh CRAP - your teacher needs a gift, doesn't she???), and the laundry. OMG the laundry never stops, does it?

This past week, while I was lamenting all the craziness that had to be accomplished before the 25th, and the stress that comes with that, an amazing friend told me something wonderful: ‘Mothers make Christmas’ … and she was so right.

My dad was always really great at helping with decorating the tree, and with wrapping gifts; and while his job in retail can sometimes put a damper on his holiday spirit, the Husband is really good about helping with some of the crazier decorations I like to put up … but my mom was the star behind the whole production. She knew that having that seventh batch of Christmas cookies would be fun for us little girls to do. She always knew whether this year was a ‘star’ year, or whether it was an ‘angel’ year (since we rotated putting them on top of our tree). She knew that my sister and I would want to wear our embroidered Christmas tree sweatshirts on Christmas eve, and to have them clean. She knew that even though we lived in England, that our family would want (and expect) tamales and queso to eat on Christmas eve … and somehow she always made it happen.

It took me most of December, but I’ve come to a sort of ‘peace’ with the holidays. Because of what Christmas meant to my family growing up, Christmas will always be a huge deal in this home – and I have to shut my laptop, stop my whining and just DO IT already. These little dudes are only this age for a short time. They will never be this little again. Next Christmas will still be wonderful, but it won’t be the same – and I don’t want to miss a single second of it. I want to take advantage of the time I have (between work, and laundry, and the other household nonsense). We’re experiencing some pretty cool stuff this season: Taking the longer route home through our neighborhood to see the Christmas lights, Christmas carols from the Mouse’s kindergarten class, sprinkled covered faces and hands after baking cookies … and I treasure every second.

All of this is a very drawn out, and dramatic way of saying: Tottums is now officially on a bloggy-cation. For the past couple of years I’ve taken the last two weeks of the year off – to make sure that my blog doesn’t interfere with me missing special moments.

Like this …

Merry Christmas to everyone. I’ll catch y’all in 2014!