Happy New Year!!! Hope 2014 has started off well for everyone. It has for us, even though the kids had to go back to school sooner than I would have liked. (did I just say that?) I think my kids have gotten to the point of independence that they are self-sufficient enough, but so fun to just hang with…that I would have been happy to have them home another week or two. (and I can remember the days of feeling like I could hardly wait for them to go back :) )…..
This year, Christmas was spent with mom & Riad visiting. I think it's the first time spending Christmas with them since we lived in Nashville and I was pregnant with Justin. They are FUN! I think I could speak for all of us when saying we thoroughly enjoyed having them.
I cooked so hard that I about wore myself out, but we sure ate some great meals….which to me is a big part of what Christmas is about…putting forth good effort to provide great meals for your loved ones. We sure ate well :)
We also played cards, did some wii bowling, listened to Justin on the guitar, Kendall on the piano, looked at Christmas lights, went to church twice ( they were introduced to the two year old room at Hope Community Church and enjoyed it!), and, as is tradition whenever we are together in NC, we had SUSHI! This time (kind of to my surprise), the kids wanted to join us and were very adventurous and LOVED the sushi. Kendall's favorite was the Florida Roll. Justin's favorite was the Spicy Tuna Roll and the overall table favorite was the Cary Roll. We only go to Suki Sushi, a place Riad and mom discovered while he was working at a Durham site for his research job, they introduced it to me, and I only go with them. It's a special tradition. It did not disappoint. It never does :)
Christmas was great. We woke (the kids slept til 8, a small miracle), and asked Riad to read the Christmas story from Luke. I put together a breakfast casserole the evening before that cooked while we opened presents (eggs, artichokes, cheese, turkey sausage…YUM). Everyone seemed happy to give and to receive and everyone was happy with their gifts. My big gift was a cuisinart multi cooker (insert goes in the oven, on the stovetop, otherwise a slow cooker that switches from cooking to keep warm mode- a great feature for a mom who loves to cook but is often out in the evenings). I also got a gorgeous winter hat and scarf, gloves, necklace and a cookbook by Giada that I had my eye on. Keith got socks and underwear!!!!! Just what he needed :) Also, slippers, a book, FSU gear, and his families blessing to travel to Pasadena tomorrow to see the national championship game. The kids got iPad mini's (a huge surprise), justin got beats headphones, a video game, some FSU clothing, an awesome bean-bag style chair for his room. Kendall got UGG's, a north face jacket (apparently essential items for an 8th grader in NC), along with her iPad. They were quite happy.
We had to leave the day after Christmas to head to Ft. Lauderdale, which meant mom & Riad left. I was not happy about this plan. It was for a soccer tournament. We planned to make it to St. Augustine that day (about half way) so Keith could have breakfast with a college buddy of his. Traffic that day was unbelievable (BAD). I wanted to turn around and go home. The following day was better. The tournament was great. The girls did fantastic and after winning the semi-final in overtime penalty kicks, played in the championship game and lost 3-0.
We hit the road after that, and, crazy as it sounds, we drove the entire 12:45 minutes home, arriving at 2:45 am, but getting to sleep in our own WONDERFUL beds. New Years eve and New Years day were spent doing as little as possible….before the kids went back to school on 1/2. Early in the morning :(
All in all, a wonderful Christmas season. Keith and I worked late this afternoon to get much of our decorations down and put away before he flies west tomorrow. I am thankful for an extra week of time off before I return to work mid-Janurary. I trust you will all be rooting hard for the Noles on Monday…what a magical season they've had. Undefeated, a heisman winner, being such a class act during scandal, yet still just kicking butt week after week after week. I'm feeling confident about Monday's game, and am thrilled Keith will be there to see them live.
May you all have a wonderfully blessed 2014!
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