Home for Christmas

Christmas time is upon us. It really is so wonderful. We're covered in the white fluffy snow, the lights are sparkling all over town. Tonight was my little brothers first band concert, it was bouncing with Christmas tunes. The presents are filling under the tree. I have officially finished the Christmas shopping. Tonight we went for a ride through downtown on a horse drawn trolley. It was very cool. I had baby in the carrier tucked into my jacket. We shared our warmth with each other and it worked well.

Next week we're going to Minnesota. Im so excited. It feels like home. It gives me warm fuzzies. (at least the insides feel warm considering the temps will be single digit, at or below zero for the duration of our stay) And even that I love. I love Michigan. Im home here too. Home can kind of be wherever, and to some extent it is. My home is obviously my physical location. My house. My dwelling, but then theres that saying about "home is where the heart is" and my heart is really all over the place but mostly its in Minnesota. With my family, in the very place I came from. With the town I came from, with the people I identify myself through. Im a very family oriented person. I have an extremely strong bond with my family. You'd think that since Ive lived states away for most of my life it would be different, but totally not. Im probably closer to them because of that. I am so thankful. I will always know where I belong. I will always remember where I came from, no matter where it looks like I'm going, and I will always remember whats important.

Taylor is also very close to them. My dad has finally met his match when it comes to chatting on the phone. Every conversation with him is usually an hour or more. And now, with her he can hardly get a word in. She loves talking to him, and they're so close. Taylor is very close to my aunt, who is her appointed Godmother. Last year at Christmas break she spent the night at my aunts house without me. All by herself. She walks around there like she owns the place! Just like everyone else. She knows where she belongs too and its everything to me. And even though she sees most of these people a few times a year, each time is nothing but quality time, and they all take the time to invest into her little life, into her interests, into her heart. Shes a person. A respected individual. Not a pesky kid. And to a mother, there is nothing more meaningful than that. I'm glad of all the things I got from them, I got that.

"Remember, you are not managing an inconvenience, you are raising a human being."

1. I want to wake up  and walk into my dad's kitchen.
2. I want to eat my Grandma's cookies
3. I want to sit in my Grandparent's livingroom. The only livingroom from my childhood that still remains.
4. I want to fight with my own brothers.. (well not really, its just what we do. I've come to expect it)
5. I want to play that silly ol' dice game in Grampa and Gram's basement.
6. I want to go to church on Christmas eve, sit on a folding chair in the narthex and watch the program on tv because I got there late.
7. I want to breathe air that is sub zero, its fresher.
8. I want to throwdown at Apples to Apples
9. I want tap a keg of 1919
10. I want to share all of these things with my girls.

  

This stuff has been on my mind for a few weeks now. How easy it is to lose sight of what matters. I wont let that be me. Im making that promise now.

So right now Im just delighting in the anticipation of "Going home for Christmas"