Decembertime is here...

This past Thanksgiving was an emotional one. It made me realize how fragile life is and how precious the people in my life are to me. Peter's Grandma passed away Thanksgiving day. When we woke up that cold Thursday morning, we were looking forward to the day, spending it with loved ones and filling our tummy's with yummy food. We weren't expecting a death in the family. Marcella K. O'Malley, will be missed dearly http://m.startribune.com/topic/3977-Obituaries/articles/194783211. She was just a couple months shy of turning 90 years old. It's amazing to think of all the things she must have witnessed during her lifetime. I've never had anyone close to me die. I've never been to a funeral of someone I knew. It was an intense day, full of tears and memories. I only knew her 4 short years and had only a handful of memories with and of her - the most precious and recent memory was watching Simon give his Great-Grandma a goodbye kiss, while visiting her at the resting home a few weeks ago. She loved that little boy so much. I'm glad she got to see him one last time and witness him walking, one thing she so desperately wanted to see.

While we were at the church on Saturday for the funeral, I kept thinking about how hard it would be to say goodbye to my Grandmas or my parents or siblings or other family members/friends. The tears flowed freely as I thought of that. A week ago, I had no idea how I would deal with a death in the family, 6 days ago, I found out. I'm thankful that most of my family/friends are believers. It gives me a peace that when those days do come, when I have to say goodbye, that they'll be in a better place. Until then, my prayer is: Come Lord, Jesus, come!

Black Friday:
Friday, I woke up at 3:00am to go shopping with my dear friends, Andria and Rosanna. I got some pretty good deals. This one was the best of all deals: It was worth standing in line for over an hour...can't beat $25 for an all-in-one printer. I did surprisingly well for only getting 2 hours of sleep within a 30 hour period. It's definitely not something I want to do all the time, but I think I can manage it once every year. ;)

♥Things I'm looking forward to:♥

-Birthday-
My birthday is tomorrow and I can already sense a theme...owls! Here are some early b-day presents that I received last week. Aren't they darling?!



I still feel like a little girl when it comes to my birthday. I'm a huge fan of surprises and as we all know birthdays and surprises usually go hand in hand with one another. Peter's taking me out tomorrow night for a surprise dinner, someplace I've never been before. My only instructions are dress to impress - I get to dress up!! :) I love my husband.

-Upcoming trip-
Peter and I are getting away for the first time without our son in a week and a half. We're driving over to Red Wing, MN. and spending a couple of days there. We're so looking forward to this and are so grateful to Peter's family for watching our little boy Simon while we're away. I'm already making plans for our getaway, movies (in a theater - gasp), breakfast, walks up and down main street with hot coffee in our hands...

-Christmas-
Along with Birthdays, Christmas is always full of beautiful surprises. This year I'm looking forward to spending it with Peter's family. This will be Simon's 2nd Christmas, it's amazing how much he's changed since last year. It's going to be fun watching him open presents and gaze at the beautiful Christmas lights. Next year they'll be another little on in our family. Simon can hardly wait to have a little cousin to play with. :)

Sprinkled in here and there, I'm looking forward to spending time with friends and family. Tea Room girlfriend date, Christmas parties, SG nights and so on. I have such a wonderful and blessed life and I don't take that for granted.

♥♥♥