Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year!

Well, after much deliberation, I've decided not to go backwards and catch-up on the myriads of missed blogging opportunities I've had over the past couple of months. I know, I know, some wonderful things have happened - Thanksgiving and Christmas to mention the two biggest - but I suppose I never really have loved to blog about things that didn't make me think, or laugh ... and, if we're being honest with each other here, I haven't thought or laughed much recently - it's all just been kind of a blur. :)

For Christmas, I'll just say, that it was wonderful. There were so many unexpected pleasures of having our very own Christmas. Of course we missed our families, but there was a quiet sweetness to watching our kids open their presents on Christmas morning and sharing the 'secret behind the magic' with no one but my husband. And, it was pretty funny acting out the nativity scene on Christmas Eve with no one else to be the donkey but Brian. :)
So, with that much of a catch-up, we'll push forward and enjoy the brand-new year!

Do you think it's bad that I probably won't make it much past 10:30 tonight? I love, love, love holidays - I love any excuse to turn an ordinary day into something extraordinary. So, when I woke up this morning and felt a little overwhelmed at the thought of making today a holiday (complete with games and ringing in the new year with my kids at around 8:00pm), I wasn't quite sure how to handle it. This resulted in a small epiphany: Just because it's New Years Eve doesn't mean I HAVE to celebrate it! My husband is not home, my kids do not care...and likely would not even remember it even if I do put a lot of thought and energy into it...so, really, it would all be for me. And, if it's stressing me out, then WHY do it?! Such a liberating thought!

So, instead of spicing up the day with a lot of extra activities and fun food, I started it out by finishing up my laundry. It felt WONDERFUL to put clean, folded clothes into drawers and know that I had no more laundry to take care of for at least 4 or 5 days! That hasn't happened for a while. :) Then, I took the kids to the museum, ran a bunch of errands all over town, organized my thoughts and goals, tidyed up for a quick sweep with the vacuum, vomitted, realized that I was pushing it a little too far to try to vacuum after my 'busy' morning, took my kids to Chick-Fil-A for an AWESOME New Years Eve dinner, put the kids to bed, soaked in a nice hot tub (and wrapped up in one of our nice, extra soft and fluffy 'special occasion' towels), and am now relaxing with my computer on my lap and Shrek 2 playing in the background. Pretty sweet New Years Eve, right!

Happy New Year, everyone!

9 comments:

  1. That is pretty sweet!

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  2. your cute lindsay. happy new years! hope you will fell better soon.

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  3. I joined you in going to bed at 10:30! Just think- next Christmas you won't need a doll for the baby Jesus:).

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  4. Happy New Year. I stayed up much too late but I think your approach sounds good for next year. It will be 2009 for 365 days so I can enjoy it all through out the year. Your family is so cute BTW:) and you husband was such a good sport.

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  5. I totally hear ya, dude. I got back from Sun Valley yesterday, then had to spend a great deal of time shoveling my driveway, then... I. was. so. tired. I was just going to chill at home, myself, but a couple of friends invited Whit and me over to play games. I hung out with 3 other girls and we just played nerts for a little while. Really low key, but worked for me!

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  6. What a cute picture! I'm glad y'all had a great holiday. We stayed home for the first time this year too and it was really nice. Calm. So nice that I don't know that we'll travel during the holidays again.

    And, I'm catching up, but congratulations! I didn't know you were expecting. That's fantastic! I'm sorry you've not been feeling well but you're through the awful nausea, right? Ah, what we mothers suffer.

    Congrats!!

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  7. So I've decided that now I'm married New Years just isn't the experience it once was. We went to a neighbors house and played apples to apples for the first time. I enjoyed it, but man a bubble bath sure sounds nice now. Richard is sick and probably would've prefered staying home, but he was a good sport. Maybe next year I'll take the bubble bath route. But then again if I get invited to a party at the Dodge home I'm NOT passing that up!! Yeah for your parent's homecoming!!! I'm looking forward to it.

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  8. I love it. Nothing like taking a night off and relaxing. I am glad that everything worked out for you. Happy New Years!

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  9. Way better than ours! We drove to Boise and slept at Justin's uncle's house on New Year's Eve! I'm glad you enjoyed your Christmas at home. We loved the last two and this year in Utah was actually a bit overwhelming! I'm looking forward to another quiet one next year :)

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