"What Christmas is Really About..."

All Christmas season, Matt and I spend a lot of time reminding Payton & Maxwell what Christmas is really about.  We keep Christmas small (at least here at home), we don't play up Santa, we have the boys purchase gifts for Operation Christmas Child each year, we talk often about the events surrounding the birth of baby Jesus, and we talk about how much fun giving is.  We do acts of giving through our advent stockings and we give to neighbors in secret - to remind them that it's better to give than receive.  We talk about how this is the only time we see some of family members and that is more important than any gift you may get.

But as a parent, sometimes I wonder if any of it's getting through.  Especially when Payton asked "Why didn't you get me any new games to go with my new DSi?"  I thought Matt was going to lose it.  We, again, discussed the giving, not the receiving and being happy with what you have.

It's hard to know if the life lessons you're teaching are impacting them in anyway.  Especially during the time I was reviewing gift receiving manners with Maxwell on Christmas Eve.  I asked him "What do you say when someone gives you a present?"  His answer was the correct one; "Thank you very much!"  But when I asked him "What do you do when someone gives you a gift you don't like?"  His reply was "You give it back!!!" OY!  Out of the mouth of babes!!!

But there was a moment this Christmas that showed me what we are teaching our boys, even if they need reminders occasionally (or often) does seep into their little brains somehow.  On Christmas Day, while eating dinner with my parents, Payton was asked to pray.  He said our recited prayer of "Dear Jesus, thank You for our food, and our family, and our friends..."  This is where we end most nights. But in this moment, Payton paused.  And he tagged on the end, "...and help us to remember what Christmas is really about; the birth of baby Jesus and being with family."

Those are the moments you know all the lessons you teach are getting through...one small bit at a time.

Christmas Photos

Surviving Christmas

Wow.  What a wonderful and yet oh so exhausting trip for our Christmas travels this year.

We began with a few days at my in laws.  My both of my brother in laws were able to be there this year and my brand-spankin-new sister in law was able to celebrate her first Kobylak Christmas with us!  And...everyone brought their four legged children, as well as our two boys.  It was a full house!  We had a great time and I loved the moments we shared with that family.

Christmas Eve, as always, is a traditional Polish Wigilia dinner.  There were 38 of us this year, with two missing; Matt & Marie.  This is the only time everyone gets to be together and it's one of my favorite days of the year.  So awesome!

Christmas Day was travel and then the 26th was with my family.  It was pretty low key this year, which I really appreciated.  We did our beg, borrow & steal stockings again this year and I think that's our favorite part. :)

I'm now working on getting my house back in order from the time I was in the hospital and the days we were gone for the holiday.  I have five more days until life returns to "normal" and I'm just looking to save up my energy so that I can be ready to go back to work.

Christmas

Well, it's that time. Being in the hospital for 8 days, it's happened upon me rather fast. Luckily before the hospital stay, I had already purchased the majority of my gifts.

Our Christmas schedule is pretty straight forward this year. Tomorrow, we celebrate our own little Christmas here at home. In the afternoon, we'll travel to my in-laws for a few days to of Kobylak Family Christmas. I really enjoy the Polish traditions we share on Christmas Eve there.

After a few days with the Kobylak Family, we'll head to Cleveland to spend time with my family. We always celebrate with them on the 26th, so it's a busy week for us.

This is my favorite holiday and time of the year. I look forward to making many more memories this year. I just hope the dog behaves!

Grateful - So VERY Grateful

So many people have reached out to me the last 10 days.  I am deeply touched and reminded of the friends and family who love and care for me.

My mom, made a huge sacrifice to come stay with us for eight days.  She is a "last minute shopper" so she gave up a lot of her holiday shopping time to stay with my boys.  She's in her 60's, so caring for two young boys and my house - not to mention our dog who has it out for her - has been a lot of work for her.   I am so blessed to have a mother who gives without asking and cares with all she has to give.  Thank you, Mom.  I love you SO MUCH.

My wonderful boys, who at only 7 and (almost) 4, made little snowflakes to hang on my windows in my hospital room.  They prayed for me and asked about me often.  They were concerned and yet strong.  They are quite the little men and I'm so proud of them for how well they behaved while I wasn't around.

I have a lot of friends who visited in the hospital, donated a meal to my family, sent a card, said a prayer, brought me little treats or even sent a kind email or note on Facebook.  Some of these are friends I haven't known very long or known very well.  Thank you, all, for your love, concern and attention.

The hospital staff was so kind.  They spent time not only caring for me, but chatting with me to cheer me up.  They made sure I was comfortable and tried to do what they could to make me happy.  To the staff of St. John 5-West, Thank YOU!

And my husband; Thank you.  Thank you for picking up the slack.  Thank you for your MANY visits to my room.  Thank you for your love, your concern and your understanding.  I love you so much.  It's how we deal with the rough times like this that remind me how deep our love is. 

God has blessed me with so many wonderful people in my life.  People who give of themselves at a time of year when people could be so focused on what they need to get done for their own families.  Thank you, God, for the people you have put in my life.

Home, Sweet Home

My final procedure for my hospital stay was completed around 3:00pm yesterday afternoon.  The doctors found some irritated lining in my stomach, but really can't attribute my lack of eating to that.  So I'm on several different medications to help my stomach & intestines calm down and all me to continue to eating soft foods.  In a few days, I will start testing out some less soft foods and see how things go.  I also have a some medications to help me deal with the continued pain.  I guess that's the most frustrating part.  I'm a girl who likes clear answers.  And I left the hospital with a very general diagnosis and no real answer to my problems.  But they are significantly less than last weekend when I arrived at the hospital.  So I am grateful for that.

I was granted permission to leave the hospital at 4:00pm yesterday.  It was the best news I'd received in a long time.  My boys were at church with my mom when Matt dropped me off at home.  I took a shower and folded some laundry.  When they got home, they were so happy to see me.  I heard "I missed you" all night long.  We put in Finding Nemo to watch as a family and I'm sorry to say I slept through the whole thing.

Today, we've just been hanging out here at home.  I didn't get up until 1pm.  Thank goodness for my mom!!  She'll be leaving tomorrow, but Matt is off work.  I'm hopeful that by the time the holiday events get started on Wednesday I have a LOT more energy and the pain is even less.  I really look forward to celebrating my favorite holiday with family and friends. ♥