How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways...

This morning I was listening to the radio show that I usually listen to on the way to work and one of the DJs recently got divorced. He and his wife have two kids, a son who is 10 and a daughter who is 6. This will be their first Christmas living apart; however, they had a very amicable divorce and have decided to all spend Christmas together and open gifts, play, etc.

So their "call in" topic was "What do you hate about Christmas and Thanksgiving?" A lot of divorced people called in and said they hated being alone, others hated the commercialism, etc. It made me realize just how blessed I am to be happily married to a wonderful man who is my best friend and soulmate, despite sometimes irritating the mess out of me. :) I have a beautiful, sweet happy almost 8 month old daughter who will be mesmerized by all the lights, sounds, and smells of her first Christmas, and a 6 year old stepson who still believes in Santa, loves his family, says, "This is JUST what I WANTED!!" no matter what you get him, and has a heart of gold. On my drive this morning, I realized just how special this Christmas will be to me, as it's my first with MY child (Z is mine too, but not biologically. There is a special bond with your own child that nothing else can replace.) and it's HER first and although she's not old enough to remember or understand it, she's old enough to get excited and squeal and giggle with delight.

We were at Target on Saturday and Joe was like a little kid in a candy store while looking at the baking supplies for holiday goodies. He looked at me with a sparkle in his eye, knowing I'd want to buy something to bake it. Of course I got several things and started holiday baking early. Joe is in the Christmas spirit early this year. I think having Bayley has done it. We are always happy with Z, but we only get him every other year and last year we didn't have him. Joe and L's mom had a falling out just before Christmas last year and that put a slight damper on things. We still had an amazing Christmas, especially since I was pregnant. Every night Joe and I would stand outside in front of the house and stare at the Christmas lights on the house, realizing how far we've come in 5 years: we got married, bought our first house, and had a beautiful baby.

I'm just thankful for my family and how happy we are. I am so looking forward to going home and baking goodies and cooking the comfort food aka holiday food. :)