I'm happy to be spending Christmas alive and well this year. I fully intend to take advantage of all the fun things that are around this time of year. Starting with Winterhaven, we went last night. We took my sister and Colter along and it was fantastic. Not freezing cold, but cool enough and not completely packed like it has been when I've gone in the past. Embry had a major melt down for like 20 minutes after we posed her for a picture in an elf cut out. She cried and cried and wouldn't stop for anything. Finally she got over it, but geez, it was dramatic. We walked almost the whole neighborhood except for a few of the side streets. It was magical. The one huge disappointment for me was that either we couldn't find the wishing tree, or it was gone. :(
We went to the Eastside Desert Mom's group Christmas party a week ago. I took my kids plus I was watching Haley and Isaac that day so my mom came along to help out. It was at the Rockin Star Ranch and the kids had so much fun on the pony rides. I was very proud of Embry for not freaking out on the pony, which I thought she would, but she tends to be braver when grandma is around. I also won a gift basket with some neat sauces and dip packets. The only part that was mildly disappointing was that Santa arrived and the girls had to go potty, so by the time we got out, Santa was gone. Therefore, we did not get a picture with Santa this year. I was going to take them to the free santa at walgreens this past weekend, but it ended up getting too late and the girls took a nap instead. There's no way I'm going to see the mall santa for a stupid $30 picture!
I went along with Kim to her work party last Friday night. We got to dress up (always fun) and go to the Omni resort in Oro Valley. They had yummy appetizers and desert and I got to meet a lot of the people Kim works with and they were so nice! I also won a raffle there and my prize was a Kindle Fire! At first I thought it was just a regular kindle, which is also freakin awesome, but then I looked at it more closely when I got home and FREAKED OUT when I realized it was actually a Kindle Fire. Oh, I'm so blessed.
We went over to Anna's house last weekend to celebrate the holidays with Anna and family and Kim and the kiddos. There was lots of good food, presents, and fun!
Then we went to the Young Married's Christmas party on Sunday night. Tony and I won the contest for 'best White Elephant' gift by giving the 3 wolf moon shirt. Our prize was a very large gummy bear, some yellow snow candy, bumpitz, and a $25 gift card to Target. Woot woot!
Yesterday, I got to spend most of the day making Christmas goodies with Embry. We had lots of fun making buttercrunch toffee, peppermint bark (with dark and milk chocolate), and cowboy cookies. I am convinced there is no better cookie in the whole world. I layered them in some Christmas tins with tissue, tagged them, and delivered them today. I took one to the hematologist, Dr Taetle, one to the Caremore care center, and one to the nurses in ICU west. It was oddly easy getting into ICU and once I was in there I could feel my heart beating faster. I talked to a dr, a tech, and a nurse while standing right outside the room I was in for 10 days last year, it was so surreal. I didn't know any of the people I was talking to (I think I only remember 2 of the people from ICU and they weren't there) but they asked about my story anyway and I thanked them for keeping me alive. They told me how good I looked for having gone through so much and the whole experience cemented in my mind the gravity of what really happened last year. How dire the situation was and how far I've come since then, it really did happen. So, once I left I felt really good, like life was mine for the taking, but by the time I got to my car I was crying. I think mostly because I'm just so thankful. It's hard to express all the feelings I still have inside of me, and I feel like I'm beating a dead horse. I mean people must be thinking, 'geez just stop talking about it already, it was so long ago!' but it really doesn't seem that long ago to me. Anyhow, all in all, it was a good experience and I think I'll be going back every year from now on. They need to know that what they do does really matter and I need to be reminded of how amazing God is.
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