free to be

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

ahhh. It's been that kind of weekend.

It definitely didn't look so promising when we decided to head north for the holidays. Kyle's mom spent 1/2 the week in the hospital terribly sick with the flu or food poisoning. Tom, Kyle's step dad, spent a couple days in the hospital room right next door to her recovering from surgery on Tuesday. Riley, our niece, had her first bout with the flu this past week. And Jim, our Brother in Law, followed suit. Needless to say, we thought we were a little bit crazy when we packed up the car (with our sanitizer in tow) and headed toward the land of sickies. Fortunately, everyone was feeling a bit better by the time we arrived. We got to Kyle's parent's at 2 am on Saturday morning and were back on the road headed in the direction of home Sunday afternoon. Once upon a time, I might have said it's way too much traveling for such a short trip but this was not the case. It was so good to be together. If only I could bottle everyone up.

With that said, a piece of me was with the Roehrig clan at Grandma's on Christmas Eve. I missed the laughter, the caroling, the paper fight, the feast and the football. Another part of me was in AZ watching movies with mom. It's hard having those that we love so far away. If only it were possible to be in 4 different places at once.

Today, Kyle and I spent the day together. It's our only Christmas that I can remember where we had absolultely no agenda. Friends ever so graciously extended invitations to join them but today felt like it was made for just the two of us. And it was good. All in all, it's been a weekend that's been full of the things we most love and we wish all of you, the same.

Happy Christmas sweet friends and family!