My boys are free! After 15 days looking at these four walls, or whatever screen was on in front of them, somehow they all got up on time and made it on the bus to get back to school after ten absent days! Even I had to set my alarm as I had let my daily schedule and routine fall by the wayside.

My brain took off into overdrive thinking of all the things we still needed to do… go see Santa, decorate the tree, finish shopping, wrapping, decorate gingerbread houses, watch Christmas movies, make up for all the lost family time…

So we decided that the first thing we should do was to go see Santa. As we all loaded into my minivan after school, the bickering and bantering started almost immediately. Normally, my blood would have started boiling, tempers would be lost, I would wonder why we were even trying to do something fun in the first place. But yesterday was different. It was different because my perspective had shifted. My heart felt whole again for the first time in two weeks. The bickering didn’t cut right through my brain, instead it was like music for my soul. Rather than a full out car ride brawl, we listened and laughed. I felt the peace settle in around us like a warm blanket and I was content.
That tree may not get fully decorated this year, those gingerbread houses may not get built til Christmas Eve, a lot of our to dos and traditions aren’t happening this year, but now we are all together, we are all healthy, and I realize just how truly blessed I am.

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