Two weeks of crazy..part one

Busy 2 weeks we've had around here and just now sitting down to mentally process it all. Guess the best way to go is chronologically...


Samantha, convinced that she's a ninja in hiding, promised Kristie a bachelorette party during the Chivas 2 week Christmas break. The universe laughed, tour was canceled and Samantha had to spend an extra week wrapping up paperwork in Chicago and fitting in a round of interviews for a new tour. Samantha was now due to fly in the 21st and the party was slated for the 22nd. Chicago was hit by snow storms, my precious child embraced all things snow related with a vengence (snowball fights, sledding down icy ramps, walking everywhere so she could hear her shoes go "crunch crunch") resulting in a sick ninja, who slept through her alarm and missed her flight. I don't even want to know what she had to pay for a new ticket on the Saturday before Christmas but bless the ticket person that found her a seat (flights were being canceled and diverted due to snow so this was indeed God's blessing). Yvonne came through like a trooper and picked up the slack with a shopping spree for the tackiest bachelorette items known to man. Picked Samantha up at noon from the airport and after a quick nap, she headed out with Kristie and Yvonne for the Quarter. Kristie's big "surprise" was a room on Bourbon complete with balcony. She was thrilled! The room was stocked with food, liquor and beads...the complete New Orleans party package.



Christmas Eve was low key and quiet. Since Kristie had to work, Josh and Kylie stayed out in Slidell, doing the round of visits with Tom and Kathy. Had an abbreviated version of our traditional Christmas Eve buffet and just enjoyed being together. Christmas morning brought our usual muffins and fresh fruit breakfast as the kids opened their stockings. Remind me to never, ever send Jerry and Samantha out to do my stocking stuffers again. 20 chocolate Hubig pies later and we discover Jerry's the only one that eats chocolate, hhmm, wonder if that was his plan all along. Jerry was bad with his new found financial comfort, doing all his shopping on Magazine St and the electronics stores (gotta say I do love my new photo printer!). But Jacob went way beyond all boundaries of sanity, I was left completely speechless when he made me close my eyes and set a laptop in my hands. He brought us all to tears though when he made his announcement...he has taken the GED, booked a date for his ACT and done the preliminary paperwork to enroll at Delgado. Josh and Kylie came out to have dinner with us (Kristie had work again). Of course my Kylie girl looked darling when she walked in the door, all decked out in her smocked Christmas dress and big bow. Can't believe I didn't take pictures before she got all wet and had to be changed. LOL, but Unca JaCOB's (that's exactly how she says his name) gift was a huge success...a family of lizards and alligators that you put in the bathtub and they grow to obsene proportions. Love having all my babies together and happy, nothing in the world is better. And it amazes me that they still just are all over each other like a basket of puppies. Take note, that is Samantha's foot in Joshua's mouth and Kylie launching herself into the fray. I pray they never "grow up" in that respect, I want them always to have the capacity to be themselves, act silly and enjoy each other in such a comfortable way.

And then there is Jim. What can I say? He's brought all this to me, fulfilled my dreams, his wife and their mother, stood next to me as each of our babies came into the world and held my hand as we raised them. Over the years, I've looked at his hands and been awed by all they do and how his love for us just seems to across as an energy that radiates from them when he touches us. The huge physical effort he's put into the house in the last few months were more than enough of an expression of his love this Christmas but he couldn't leave it at that. Christmas night, when we were alone, he gave me the gifts he bought for me...diamond fleur de lis necklace and earrings. When your husband gives you diamonds, it feels like an affirmation, a reminder that he still feels the same as when he gave you an engagement ring. Or maybe it just feels that way to me, especially after being together for so many years. And these diamonds coming in the shape of fleur de lis', he's telling me that he understands, he acknowledges the importance of my home, what New Orleans means to me. Such a huge token of his love and support, even now touching me and making me cry. I have no clue why God graced me with Jim, I am so humbled by the blessing.