Oh good, I was really hoping that this would come through well. As you can see, our flight departs at 10:20. and it is 8:50. We're chillin at our gate. Checked in and cozy. Eatin our breakfast of hot chocolate pop tarts (yes that is what they are called) and well, I don't know what everyone else is drinking but I've gone back to my old favorite just before vacation is over. Since you can drink anything while on vacation, don't tell my doc, I'm having a raspberry mocha. oooh yeah baby! And I learned in so drinking that, while taking in its warm, chocolaty fruity goodness, all my relatively close stresses can seem to shrink in comparison....
See what I mean. It can happen to you, too. Even second hand. Amazing isn't it? I think it can happen even if you're not a coffee drinker. Raspberry mocha was the first 'coffee' drink I ever tried. I say 'coffee' in quotes b/c if you're a REAL coffee drinker it's probably too fru-fru for you. But it's like an old friend. That's how my wife started, and speaking of my wife...
see what I mean again. Don't worry. She knows I took this picture. If you know her well you can see the smirk behind that pop-tart bite she's about to take. :)
Anyway, it's been a great vacation. And all kidding aside about the Starbucks taking the sting off the attitudes, and being at the gate EXTREMELY early for a REYNOLDS, we (I) have learned some great life lessons.
At the Christmas dinner, I was graciously asked to say grace. One thought was on my mind. When we come together as a family at the holidays there is so much pressure. So much anticipation and planning. For me personally I remember what it was like as a kid and there is never any way it can measure up to what it was like then. I mean the innocence of youth and everything. Things are much more complicated now. Plus as an adult its like you have all these expectations and inevitably things fall short. And when more than one adult is in the room, and more than one expectation falls short, tempers sometimes fly. But isn't that what family is?
Holidays are about building memories. And memories, as I have recently learned, are not always the happy ones. Family is not always the easy times. Real relationships are not always the perfect ones. My family is not prefect. But it is real. It is intense. It is passionate. It is deep. It is about love and laughter, tears and tantrums (me just as much as the little ones). God has to deal with my childish behaviors as much as I have to deal with my kid's choices.
So we are real with each other. And why don't we just acknowledge that this season, we're gonna have those times. We're gonna be real. We're gonna have a fit now and then. And that is okay. In fact that is more than okay. It's family. It's building memories. And if you have little kids, you're building a system, a network of support for the times later on that is strong and deep and wide enough to support the storms of adolescence and early adulthood. If there aren't some turbulent waters now, how will we navigate those times then.
If you are reading this page, chances are, I love you. Even if you don't know me and landed here somehow, I care about you as a human being. I want the best for you as I want the best for everyone. God bless you. I believe in the deepest recesses of my being the He loves you. We are the ones who complicate it. And especially now. We start off well. We mean well. Then we get it sideways somewhere along the way. Let's keep it simple. Okay?
Go make some memories. And when the tempers fly, like they sometimes do in my house, just say "well, this is my family and I love my family" If you have the ability to calm down and pull out and away for a bit, do so. take a deep breath every now and again. Sometimes I do it enough I feel like I'm gonna pass out! But there are those times when the memories do happen.
This morning about 3 am I woke up and just stared at Noah. We were sharing a bed and I just felt the tenderness of his breath on my hand. He looked like an angel just laying there. no arguing. no fighting. no attitude. I don't want him like that all the time, because there was no life in that moment, there was peace, sure, but it wasn't near as fun! it wasn't near the challenge! I could say the same about Nina. There wasn't her tender little voice speaking to me the way she does. She wasn't complaining either! I'd still rather have them awake.
Then I thought about how God sees us when we are sleeping. What does He think? What does He think is bigger? Our attitudes? Our our hearts?
You decide. And Merry Christmas!
Uncle John and his Grinch T-shirt. But... he bought the kids AWESOME presents... must be cuza the movie.
Kids still patiently waiting. Although Nina is splitting in two in anticipation (one drawback of a moving target with a panorama image and the phone cam)
And of course the parade ends with 
But you didn't want to see that, did you? You want to see these beautiful faces! All decked out in their prizes! YAY!
Here's a great picture from the gulf side beach, through the street next to the cottage to the other side of the island. It is not an illusion: it is really narrow at this spot. The peach colored house in the center is our cottage. :) Cool huh?
The doc gave us a prescription for a medication that was not found at the first two pharmacies we stopped at. So we made sure that the third one actually had it. Oh, and i didn't mention that the credit card was with Caryn's license, yeah, on the island, so we ended up paying precious vacation cash for the transaction at the dr's office... oh well. Not to worry though, we had support from the fam in case we hit the bottom of the barrel. :)
forgot this one... Uncle Buddy, Noah and Andy. Just a great picture, don't you think?
Another phone cam picture - last nights dinner setup at the cottage. everyone is too tiny to name, but it was really really fun being there together! we had pasta and chicken parmesean and bread (which was Noahs favorite) Nina liked the pasta!
