Happy Holidays

Richard and I have a tradition of staying up late on Christmas Eve. We hang out in the kitchen, have a couple of drinks, make some cookies and Christmas treats and just enjoy each others company. We usually have spent so much of the past three or four weeks running with the kids, adjusting to his after school soccer practice, buying Christmas presents, and other asundry chores that we really enjoy the time to catch up with each other and feel like two people reconnecting after a long time apart (sort of odd since we sleep in the same bed each night, right?). Tonight was no exception - we read Christmas Eve stories with the kids (we are very excited - Mason read most of "The Night Before Christmas" by himself tonight), put the kids in their new Christmas pajamas, popped open a few beers and started making our chocolate balls.

In the middle of washing dishes, laughing with Richard about whatever it was he was telling me, and watching him patiently rolling coconut balls in melted chocolate, I glanced out the kitchen window and saw cars driving by (our neighborhood is "the lighted one" in town.) I realized some of the people in those cars were looking through our kitchen window and witnessing a "Norman Rockwall" moment in the making. What was even more astonishing to me was the realization that, for the most part, they were right. We are two people very much in love with each other and with the idea of spending the next fifty years drinking a few beers and making some candy on Christmas Eve - with each other. We have three of the most beautiful children (in our humble opinions) sleeping soundly in their beds waiting for the moment they can jump out of their beds and see what Santa has brought - which of course will be exactly what they wanted. We just left a loud Christmas get together at my mom's house which follows a great weekend with Richard's family. Friends and family are coming over tomorrow to play and hang out. We are truly blessed - and grateful!! Merry Christmas from the Meisels!!

Thanksgiving

My Wal-Mart moment: Yesterday was not a good day for me. I took the day off to meet the carpet cleaners at the house to have the carpets done before the holidays. He was suppose to arrive at 8:00 - he didn't get there until 9:45. It was suppose to take two hours - he took three. The carpets were suppose to be dry by yesterday evening - they were still damp this morning. Richard and I had spent the evening before moving everything off the floor and onto the larger pieces of furniture (visualize beds, tables, and couches loaded down with toys and baby stuff). Needless to say, dinner was not happening at home so we went to CiCi's Pizza. After pizza we decided to go to Wal-Mart to do the holiday food shopping and give the carpets a little more time to dry. We walked all over Wal-Mart loading the cart with stuff to cook good dinners when Reagan became fussy so Richard decided to take the kids to the car while I finished. My debit card is in my pocket as he headed to the car so I can pay for the groceries. I finish gathering up the rest of what we need - including picking the perfect turkey to take to Mom's house on Thanksgiving. I get to the register, load up the belt, wait for the clerk to scan the items, and reach for my debit card only to find - no card. I search the floor around the register and look in the grocery bags to see if somewhere in my rush I had taken it from my pocket and sacked it. NO CARD TO BE FOUND! I call Richard on his cell and have him send Mason in with his card so I can pay, but the people behind me are getting anxious so I tell the lady to give me one of those little slips to pay with and I will pay at customer service. As Mason arrives at the register, I realize I probably lost my debit card somewhere in the store so we head back to look for it. All I can think is, "Will this day ever end?" We circle through the produce section (did I mention Wal-Mart was out of green onions? - yet another thing that had not gone my way) - no debit card. We walk down the baking goods aisle (also no German chocolate cake mixes) - no debit card. Then we go to the large freezers of turkeys and there, in front of the largest cooler, which I had reached deep into to grab the perfect turkey, lies my debit card. Just as I am thinking, "At least something has gone my way today," I see an elderly man with a turkey TV dinner and realize that is probably his Thanksgiving feast. Mason and I go back to customer service to pay for my buggy full of groceries and standing in front of us is a mother, pushing her buggy, with her son, who is about Reagan's age, but doesn't have any arms or legs - he has hands and feet, but no arms or legs. As I am explaining to Mason as we get in the car what was wrong with that little boy who was so similar to his baby sister, but so different at the same time, I thank God for working in wonderfully, mysterious ways. I think he "misplaced" my debit card to make me appreciate my house full of wet carpet, healthy children, and friends and family - even if we aren't eating green onions or German chocolate cake. From our family to yours - may your life be as full of wet carpet and chaos as ours - Happy Thanksgiving!

Mom and Me Camping

Mason and I went camping at George W. Pirtle this weekend. We bought a tent, packed the sleeping bags, got the flashlights and bug guard ready to go, and set off on our adventure. We arrived at the campsite, registered, hauled our gear (in Connor's red wagon) about a half a mile to the campsite and started to set up before the daily activities began. We got our tent set up and... I stepped in a hole, heard a snap, and - you guessed it, a trip to the ER. Mason says, "Are you okay?" and "Does this mean we have to go home?" in one breathe. The camp leaders came to the camp and hauled me out (literally) in a truck. Mason stayed at camp and did the activities with my friend Shannon while I visited the Carthage Texas Memorial Medical Center. It wasn't broken, only a bad sprain, so I, vieing for mom of the year award, went back to camp and finished the day on crutches and in a wheel chair.
Seriously - I shot a slingshot, bow, and BB gun on crutches - and had pretty good aim if I do say so myself. I even walked to the campfire to make smores. I slept in a tent with my ankle elevated shivering in a sleeping bag. Then the next morning Mason and I took our tent down, loaded up our stuff and went home (thankfully we had ridden with Shannon - who did most of the loading and pushing of the wheelchair).
Since I finished Mom and Me despite a badly sprained ankle, I am a shoo in to win so, I have been practicing the Thank You speech for the Mom of the Year Award. It goes something like this - "I would like to thank Richard for babying me once I finally got home on Sunday, Shannon, Jennifer, and Tracy for pushing and pulling, Mason for letting me do most of the activities from a wheelchair, the scout masters who drove me to and from the hospital, and most of all modern medicine for a little invention known as Vicodin."

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Emily