♪♫ It's the most wonderful time of the year ♫♪

Or, it can be. 

Right now I'm sitting in the kitchen at John's, enjoying every second of this season.  The kids laughter, the smell of fresh cookies coming out of the oven, the gathering of families.  Sometimes I'm stressed out to the max.  It depends on the day.  What is nice is that there seems to be a balance this year.  I get stressed, then the weekend rolls around to relax me.  The weekends are never long enough, but they never ever have been.  This year the weekends are a time for an escape.  A much needed escape from the bustle of the season. 

This weekend we have all of the kids.  So far we've been to a family reunion at John's parents house, and I baked 4 dozen cookies. (I'm not entirely sure why I baked, but it was relaxing and quite tasty.  I had a cookie after they came out of the oven.)  Tomorrow the kids and I are going back to mom and dad's to decorate the Christmas tree.  It'll be the first year with 4 kids helping.  I think the magic and joy of Christmas are truly the faces of the kids when you do things like decorate the tree, and on Christmas morning when they all realize that Santa has been to the house.

I am so blessed to have the amazing people in my life that I have.