christmas.

2011 - what a year.

I knew this year would be different, but I hadn't more than a hint exactly how different it would be. 

One thing was obvious: Chicagoland.

Moving again - the fifth time in 2.5 years of marriage -
was on the docket this time last January, but
something else inside me told me about what would be happening this past summer.

That something was Christmas last year; we sang carols in the car, and
it was something my family had NEVER done before all-together.

Something about that said "last christmas" to me -
I remember thinking that in that car ride on the way to mass
that Christmas Eve.
It was the last Christmas with my dad, and it was a great one. 
We got to see all my family,
we had a ton of fun with our family-friends,
and we made a ton of wonderful memories.

So, with only the memory of him around,
this Christmas was different.
There weren't many pictures,
and there were as many smiles as there were tears,
but we made it.

We - John and I -
made the trek from IL to PI, MN, then
St. Martin, MN, then
Newton, IA, then
back to IL.

We saw and spent good time with family,
we had a ton of fun with friends,
and we had the first Christmas with us on earth and Dad in Heaven.

I'm thankful so many of you who have posted have
had a good Christmas.  Ours was as good as it could be,
and for that I am thankful.

So, with that all being said,
I hope you all have a very wonderful last day of 2011
and a very, very joyful 2012.

p.s. the dark chocolate pistachio fudge
was kind of meh.  I'm still undecided
on how that turned out.