waiting for santa
we did a lot of driving last week...following three days of sad, sickness. Not pretty. Lots of sanitizer and hot water laundry going on. And lots of rest and cuddles.
All four of us fell hard with the stomach flu, from friday till sunday...days before christmas we slept and rested..and you know what else, no details needed.
Christmas eve we rested.
We felt better and it had been 24 hours of sick-free-ness so we went to our church's Christmas eve Children's Mass. It was beautiful. No words. Father R's homily was the sweetest homily I've ever heard. He brought all the little children up around him and they told the story of the very first christmas. We laughed and we cried. My heart hurt bad for families with little angels up in heaven this year. I carried them with me and lifted them up with tears and prayers. Our Christmas eve mass was healing and it brought hope.
I'll not soon forget sweet angel voices singing in the children's choir, or the young beautiful dancers who opened up with candles and ballerina slippers sliding across the church. I'll not soon forget our friends that squeezed in around us and smiled at us so filled up was the church that night. After three hard days of sick babies and sick mama and daddy taking care of their sick babies, weak and worried...well, this Christmas eve mass at our home parish, it was just the most perfect thing. It was our light and hope and it was beautiful. Even if the boys were squirmy through most of it, even if Caleb lost it at the end and had to be carried out in almost tears; dave and I slipped our hands through each other's, we smiled over little heads, and we listened to the music and the words.
The next morning, Christmas day. It was spent driving....11 and a half hours.
but they were car champs!
I tried not to think about all the cousins the boys weren't getting to see this christmas, the fact that everyone was gathered around a table together without us. We would get there...and we would have our own Christmas on Wednesday. And it was a perfect Christmas indeed, even if it was the day after christmas. So we blasted the Christmas music on our drive and smiled as Caleb belted out word.for.word Rudolf, frosty, noel, and just about every single christmas song almost the entire way up. it brought back sweet memories of my sisters and i doing the exact same thing. Next year, lucas will be singing the words with him.
beautiful snow on our drive!
caleb, you rocked stared the drive. singing and happy, sleeping great. wow. lu, you were getting both sets of bottom molars in. it was a tougher drive for you...you wanted to be moving. sitting still was hard for you. but boys, you did great. mama and daddy, we are so proud of you! you boys were champs through it all!
we finally made it to Oregon. We were blessed on our drive not hitting any traffic (duh, what crazy person travels that far christmas day!hi...and thanks to weather clearing up...no chains needed..had we gone saturday...like we planned, before sickness set in, we would have been driving more than 12 hours that's for sure...weather plus traffic plus road being closed...I'm counting this Christmas trek a blessing)
The boys were excited to finally be at Grandma and Grandpa's house!!
older brother helps little brother 'let me show you how it's done lil lu'
(the pic below is) from oregon after a massive poo blow-out in the freezing 40 degree rain...bare bumming it for a few...it's funny how your mind erases some of those just full out crazy family moments...caleb's calling out "lucas has a poo? what's that smell? he's got poo on his butt?'' never ending conversation with us who can't respond because we've got little boy bare butt outside the car, mama wiping it, daddy holding bare butt boy, and thankfully no one around (that i know of) to witness crazy scene outside carls' on christmas day (yeah, that's how we roll, us crazies)
More people fell sick in Oregon...yes, seems we can't escape it! Grandma, carlos, grandpa, uncle andrew, great grandma....it continues...hope it stops soon! Which means we didn't get to see cousins and great aunts and great uncles and great grandparents. My heart feels heavy over this. We missed everyone because we were sick...and then because the sickness continued once we were up there with D's family (not spread by us...great grandma g's senior center caught it and it passed that way) but anyway...basically we were bummed we missed seeing everyone...which means next time we go up we'll get to see them I'm sure! I hate living so far away :( Poor Dave hears this more than he wants I'm afraid. But I'm glad we make the effort to visit and so do they. Family comes first in our book!!
And so...because we weren't crazy enough to drive 24 hours...we thought we'd keep on trekking...down to SC for New Years (yeah, I know...cray-cray)
so we had one lovely night, in our own bed...and then we drove down to sc to bring in the new year with my family (and my bday too)
lil helper.
and so...why? you ask, do you drive 36 hours in less than a week with two boys under three years old, one teething, one prone to great and powerful melt downs, mama who can't always keep it together, but thankfully, daddy can...cause, well he's a rockstar...why? through rain and snow, and days after sickness times 4...why? through tears and sadness..and all that comes with family fun adventures on the road?....
this is why.
because I want my boys to know just how special family really is....
all these little moments shared this week...this is why we do it. we do it because our families mean more than they know to us. we're blessed. and I want the boys to be surrounded by them. there's a lot of love. I want them to know how much they are loved and to be surrounded by it always...
some more moments captured (on camera) from christmas. can't wait to make my christmas video :)
enjoy!
I love looking at each photograph with a smile thinking...just how special these little boys of mine are, and seeing them with the most special people in their lives...it makes me have a heart squeeze :)
Merry Christmas
Thanks for taking this photo Marisa!
