Family time

UnknownThe Holiday season has officially begun tonight with the first of the season broadcast of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”.  The 7-year-old demanded that we watch it as a family.  As the time neared we all settled in.  The little one is working on a bracelet with her rainbow loom, Meg is laying with her favorite little bear,appropriately named “bear”, the dog is in the middle of the floor chewing on her bone while the hubby has fallen asleep.  I sit here typing.

Family time is nice time.  It does look a little different than it did as I watched Rudolph as a kid.  I remember searching the TV listings circling the date and times of the specials.  If you missed it when it was on there was nothing to do but wait until next year.  I told the girls this as the show was about to start tonight to which I was told “that much have been tough”.  Smartass kids.  Last year our DVR was filled with specials, until I realized that they were shown several times on several stations over the season.  This year we printed what seems to be a pretty complete list of holiday shows.  It is over 3 pages long.  I love the season but can not commit to seeing them all! 🙂

The ability to chill out in pj’s with an almost 50-year-old Christmas special with the people you love, well it does not get much better now does it? I remember watching this very show with my mother.  I wonder if my girls will be sitting in a living room 30ish years from now watching with families of their own.  I guess I will have to make a note to  make sure I write a blog post while sitting with the grandchildren watching Rudolph.  Wouldn’t that be wonderful?!

What do you want?

What a question right?  I was driving along heading home from a small shopping trip and lunch with the girls on New Years eve when from the back of the car Madison asks, ” Hey Mom, what is your New Years revolution?”  I laughed both at the use of revolution and at the out of the blue question from my 6-year-old.  I thought about it for a second but had no answer.  I have not made a resolution in years.  I punted the question back to her and was faced with an immediate answer of “my revolution is to get a pony”.  Now, I did attempt to correct her wording to no avail. I also told her the thoughts of a pony would stay just that, thoughts.  🙂

It made me think though, it would not be a bad thing to set some goals, maybe identify what I want to achieve in the next year.  She is a persistent child also and would not let me get out of the car without something.  So here it is, my cliché new years resolution, I would like to be more fit and drop another 10-20 pounds.  As I have discussed before I had been working on my weight for a year prior to the mastectomy and DIEP reconstruction.  In total I have lost about 40 pounds since my peak “high”.  I really do feel so much better and would like to continue.

Since the last surgery was the week of Thanksgiving, it really threw me off of my game.  I had to limit activities for a week or so and then right into the holidays.  The hustle and bustle of getting everything ready for the holidays and of course the elliptical, walking and any other type of exercise related activity fell by the way side.  Having the kids home and sick for the last week has not helped either!  Very happy to be getting back to routine tomorrow!

SO sometimes it takes a six-year-old to help put things back into focus. It has also made me think about the broader question of what it is that I want.  There is of course the obvious, happy children and husband.  Good health, financial security but I am not sure that they answer the question of what do I want nor do I think it is an answer that I will come to sitting here typing tonight.  It is a question that I will spend some time thinking about so stay tuned, who knows there may be an epiphany.

Parades, Football, Turkey and much Thanks!

The girls and I got going early this morning and  showered and dressed so we could watch the Parade.  Although Philadelphia has a parade that I grew up watching, we chose New York.  My mother would not be pleased but for the girls The Macy’s parade  is so much more entertaining.  Singing, dancing and of course the balloons. I remember as a kid watching and anticipating the arrival of Santa Claus. Now he is in the mall early November but back then the arrival in the parade was the kick off of the season. Sad how greed has wiped out so many traditions.

My brother and his family will stop by for a few hours before heading off to their final dinner destination.  The kids will get to play with their cousins. Football will take over the television while Frank takes over in the kitchen.

I feel good but will lay low today.  I plan on just enjoying the day.

I am thankful for my family, my health and look forward to a great holiday season.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!