This Week Was A Doozy

This past week has been a crazy one due to all the Christmas cheer I have been asked to help spread or at least "show up" to and participate.  For me? No problemo.

I type this post right now still suffering from my sugar induced coma that was brought on from the night before.  Last night I went on a sugar bender.  You see, when offered a cupcake, I simply can't say, "no."  Being in the full throes of trying to eat less and finally loose the last of this baby weight (I know, my baby is almost three, but better late than never!).  Anyway, knowing I am trying to watch the calories, I decided to only eat the top of the cupcake. Pretty tricky, heh?   Well, then Lily had to have a cupcake.  So I HAD to have a second topper from her cupcake (I don't want her eating all that sugar!).  Don't ask me about logic, cupcakes seem to defy all logic in my presence.  Anyway, enough about CUPCAKES, the point is, I am still sick from all that sugar from last night, so please be advised of possible typos or misspellings since my mind is not completely back to it's full capacity.

Just for kicks, wanna hear what I've been up to this past week?   Let's see, I had two doctor's appointments for Lily, then throw in a PT appointment for her, where she was introduced to her new little walker.  So far all she likes to do with it is sit on the seat provided, but it's a start.  Next, we went to a "fitting" for Lily, and "no" if you think she is going for a stint on America's Next Top Model, you'd be incorrect. She had a fitting for something else, but I'll leave you hanging on that one for just a few days.

Lily is also starting preschool at the first of the year.  It's a special preschool for developmentally challenged children.  I am sooooo excited for Lily because she is going to love all the attention that she is going to get from her teachers, in-house PT specialist and Speech Therapists.  Anyway, we went to her school for testing and to meet with her new teacher, Miss Mary.  Upon their meeting one another, Miss Mary didn't hesitate to pick Lily up and hug and kiss on her and then hug on her the remainder of our meeting.  It was truly a match made in heaven.  Lily loved Miss Mary right back and I didn't get jealous even a little bit.  I was so happy to see the trust already being established.  I see good things happening in Lily's future.

Now back to my crazy but festive week.  We went to 3 Christmas parties this week and 2 the week before last, making that 5 in total.  One party we had a chef prepare Labanese food for us.  Honestly, I couldn't stop, the food was so good.  Then we did the usual white elephant gift party that left us laughing hysterically at the gifts people were receiving.  Martin and I ended up with pretty tame gifts. Ones that I may be able to recycle at another white elephant party that we are going to next week.

Saturday was our busiest day by far.  Wait! Sunday was!  I'm not sure which one, but I do know that I didn't sit down for more than a few minutes on Saturday.  In the morning we went to a Christmas breakfast where we ate Cinnamon rolls, yogurt parfaits and egg caseroles (which were surprisingly good!).

I Make a MEAN Cinnamon Roll with Cream Cheese Frosting!

Our little group of Primary children re-enacted the Nativity.  My friend, Ashley, brought her brand new 2-month-old baby boy and had her two twins, "Mary" and "Joseph"  hold him as all the Primary  kids re-enacted Luke 2 from the Bible.  I don't know what it was, but every time I'd look at our mini-Mary and Joseph holding the babe along with our mini-kings, mini-angels, mini-star and mini-shepherds, I would well up with tears.  Partly from the sacredness of that moment in history and the significance of Christ's birth or maybe just because I long to have another baby. I think too much.

Saturday night we went to, "A night in Bethlehem" party where we had to dress in full regalia and eat food that would have been eaten at the time of Christ's birth.  It was fun, and again, I left the party having eaten too much tabbouleh, naan, couscous and figs.  Yum!

Our little shepherd.

Last night (Sunday) I was on the committee for the Creche (Nativity) exhibit at our Church.  It was amazing to see all the different Nativity scenes that people had from all over the world.  My favorite is one woman there who had about 20 Nativity scenes in her collection and is also known for her sense of humor.  I would ask her, "Where did you get this one?" Her reply, "QVC" and then I would say, "And this?"  Her reply was, "At the pharmacy in Holladay."  And the banter would continue with her telling me all the funny places she had collected her Nativities and not a one of them being from another country.

There was one woman who had at least 75 Nativities there and all of them told a story of a trip that she had taken to a particular part of the world where she purchased them.  It was overwhelming, because I have all of  three.  Do I need to continue collecting?  Where would I store them?  Where would I put them?  As the night came to a close, I stopped worrying about my non-collection of Nativities and quickly helped to clean up, drive like mad to get home and then crawl straight into bed while Martin rubbed my back as I feel asleep.

All in all, I LOVE this Christmas season.  I love all the reminders of why we really celebrate Christmas and the importance of remembering Christ, His birth, His life and His sacrifice for us.  And we did celebrate and do ALWAYS remember Him.

Christmas is also a time to gather around family and be reminded of the blessing of family in our lives.  Without mine, I would be dull and lifeless.  Without mine, I would be a Scrooge or a Grinch. Without my family, I wouldn't know the kind of happiness that I feel every time I look and see my husband playing with our daughter as she laughs and loves on him.  I am blessed.

I hope everyone is having an equally wonderful and busy holiday as well.  I am exhausted but after a good 24 hours, I'll have forgotten about the exhaustion and carry on with all the festivities yet to come!

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P.S.  I fed pizza to a chef this past week NOT knowing he was a chef at "The French Laundry" for the past three years.  At least it was gourmet pizza.  Who am I kidding?  I was mortified when I found out and can't stop thinking about the moment I asked him what he did for a living.  MORTIFIED!