Happy Holidays!

I honestly didn't think it would be possible, but we had a great Thanksgiving. Even better than that, we had a great Thanksgiving weekend. I knew that we were going in the right direction when Wednesday started well and before things got out of control, Jared called saying that he was on his way home. I got the pleasure of leisurely shopping all by myself for those last few things I had forgotten. One of the great things about living in hippieville is that they all grow their own organic feast so they weren't all in Costco, it was creepy how few people were out, but it was good. Since I was relaxed and had time to do whatever I wanted, I went to Whole Foods to get some cheese and olives so we could have a nice antipasti for dinner. Much to my delight, while I was there they announced that the fisherman had just caught a bunch of crab that morning and he was there selling them, already cracked and cleaned. How could I not? It was such a great end to a day, just a Wednesday, but none the less a day that we decided to celebrate. I think that part of why I have such a hard time with holidays is because it sometimes feels forced. Be thankful NOW give gifts to people NOW and the only reason why we do it on that day is because everyone else is. Of coarse it is fun to do what everyone else is doing but sometimes you just don't feel like it. With the history of Thanksgiving day being as sad as it has been, it felt so good to genuinely celebrate the day before it. It just felt good to genuinely feel, something that is really hard to do when you are as tired as I am. So with the momentum of our crab feast and two happy little girls we went into...dundundun...the holiday, and it was good. I got to cook all morning at a casual pace while Jared watched the Macy's parade (which makes my skin crawl) with the girls, it felt like a pretty normal family, weird right? We went to a friends where we deep fried a turkey, which is awesome, vasts of hot oil make everything better, Chloe played with Luke and Claire fell asleep watching football after showing off her super awesome standing skills. We went home super full and it was good. Friday stated a little slow, we didn't know what to do and somehow we ended up going shopping. You didn't think I was going to say THAT did you? Claire and I hit the Carter's store for a bunch of super comfy clothes for both of the girls, we even got matching holiday pj's (see flickr to right). Feeling the exhilaration of having completely lost my mind, we went to the BIG mall. I have a special place in my heart for The Body Shop. Jared loves me so much that he dropped me off and fed Claire lunch while I went in there all by myself! The smell of that place takes me back to my senior year, back when I could take 4 bathes a day if I wanted. I did the unthinkable, I purchased 4 things and they were all for me. I have made an early resolution starting today, I will take a bath or a long enjoyable shower at least once a day. That's right, I am going to take 20 minutes every day just for me, I am so excited! I am completely amused that it took black Friday to get me to go out and do something like this for myself, God does have a good sense of humor. The weekend was great as well, I enjoyed a bath, Claire and I went to see Tangled and we purchased our first Christmas tree in the last 10 years. We also went out after bedtime to look at the lights in the park and watched some football. I am so content and relaxed and ready to soak in the advent season as well as the festival of lights. Sitting back today reveling in it, knowing that it might be another 5 or 10 years before we get this again, so I will bask in the glow of a holiday gone well for as long as I can. To those of you in that special place in my heart, the ones with daughters younger than Claire, please have hope, there is life after Rett Syndrome, it is different, but it can be good, the potential is still there!