Christmas Cookies

Christmas used to my favorite holiday but working retail has just made Christmas stressful.  Working retail makes it hard to enjoy the holidays.  I miss the days when Christmas was about celebrating with friends and family and focusing on the birth of Jesus.  At some point, Christmas has become about shopping with retail stores working their employees more and more.


We also had our first loss right after the holidays, almost three years ago.  It's hard not to remember that we are seven days away from the 3rd anniversary of our first BFP.  We are so blessed to have our beautiful rainbow.  I'm more thankful and love her more everyday.  She is our miracle baby and this time of year is a great reminder of that.

I want Anne to remember Christmas as a joyous time with friends and family, but that's hard to do when she goes days without seeing her dad because he is working so many hours.  Steve is such a hard worker and I appreciate all the overtime he is working so we can keep our bills paid but I miss him being home.

Today was probably the first day this Christmas season that I truly enjoyed the festivities.  My great friend, Stacey, came over and we spent the day making Christmas cookies.  It was so much fun and we had some great conversations while baking too.  We may have made a mess in the kitchen, but it was worth it.  We made five different kinds of cookies, plus some homemade white chocolate peppermint hot chocolate.  Yum... I'm so thankful for great friends.

Special thank you to my mom for coming over to play with Anne while we baked.  She is sleeping now, like any good baby should be doing at midnight.  Her mommy should be sleeping too.  She had a busy, fun-filled day today.  Tomorrow, more fun in the works, we are traveling to Toledo to spend Christmas with Steve's extended family.
 

 Anne did get to help decorate her own sugar cookie.  She loved it. 

  

“Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a good fire?” (or in our case a stove)
~ CS Lewis

Precious Moments

This week's family sickness has reached the smallest member of the family. She was up every hour last night between 9pm and 2am. Poor girl couldn't breathe, she was so congested.  I finally got her to sleep for 2 hours sitting up in our recliner, then she joined us in bed and slept another two hours.

 These are the moments I treasure. Anne won't remember the time I filled the dishwasher or folded the laundry.  She doesn't care if bathroom needs cleaned or her playroom is messy.  She will remember the times she giggled together, snuggled and napped together.  I love her so much.  I am so blessed that I get to be her mommy.