"Oh Martha, Oh Christmas!!"

I'm a little sad about my last blog post to be honest.  Not only was I depressed and gloomy...about Christmas of all things, but my grammar and use of proper tense forms were way off.  Please forgive me, I will try not to let it happen again.

But, I must tell you, a Christmas miracle occurred that night.  Nothing like THE Christmas miracle, of course, but more like a minor one in the grand scheme of things.  There I was, bemoaning my lack of Christmas spirit, when I decided to take my own advice (from the afore mentioned post) and break out some hot chocolate.  My dear friend Misty had just delivered some dee-licious Land O Lakes French Vanilla hot cocoa, and as a connoisseur of fine hot cocoas, I must admit, this one might just take the cake...er the cocoa. It warmed my very soul, THAT's how good it was.  

So then, with my warm cup in hand, I decided to do a little surfing on Facebook, because sometimes (and let's be honest here) you feel like your life is less pitiful when you read what other ding-dongs are doing on Facebook! Any hoo, I digress...I'm surfing...on Facebook. Bam! I see the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life.  One of my friends (who is an awesome photographer, by the by) had posted a picture that summed up entirely how I was feeling at that very moment...

And yet, had the power to almost single handedly transform my dreary, dreary mood! Are you ready???? 

Taken by the fabulous Jamie of JamiliaJean Photography...and yes, I can give you her number- you'll have to get your kids to cry!

How do you not love this picture?? This, my friends, was me...People wanted me to be happy - I wanted me to be happy, but I just wasn't happy! Until. I. saw. this! I laughed so hard I cried! I cried real tears! I cried because I was lacking my own JOY. I cried because the kids were crying. I cried because somewhere a mom was probably crying. I cried because at that moment, I knew I shouldn't be crying! My life is good! My life is great! And...I cried because it's Christmas time! My most favorite time of the year!  I love it! I love,  love, love, love, love Christmas time! I truly, truly do.

After shutting down FB, I wandered into the family room with my still-warm cocoa, and watched an episode of Elementary. Love that too. (Are you sensing a theme?) I am a Sherlock Holmes fan, and even though the episode had nothing to do with Christmas, it made me smile...and I just like smiling.

People, I was nearly there! Nearly back to my old Christmassy self... just one last thing.  I hadn't said a decent prayer in two weeks...other than "please don't let me get sick on the plane," and "please make the room stop spinning!" Those kind of prayers, while desperate, aren't really quality prayers.  I knelt down by my bed and offered up a truly heartfelt prayer; gratitude for the many blessings I have and the glorious (though far from perfect) life I have been blessed to lead.  I was almost in awe of the spirit that washed over me.  All of my gloom was gone, just....gone! It was replaced with happiness that had been missing for a while, and JOY...real, live, JOY! I'm usually pretty reverent during my prayers, although I believe my Father in Heaven and I have shared a few chuckles, but at the conclusion of this prayer, I said my 'Amen' and then I let the giddiness overtake me as I hugged myself and breathed out one of my favorite lines from "The Grinch;"  'Oh Martha, Oh Christmas!'

I am now officially full to the brim with Christmas Spirit! No Grinches allowed! (Except on dvd!) 

Where are you Christmas?

Yesterday I finally got dressed at around 4:30...p.m! And when I say I got dressed, I mean I added a bra to my sweats, T-shirt and slippers.  I had to pick Quincy up from school, which being dressed is not a pre-requisite for, but we also had to go to Walmart.  I know, I  know, it would have been perfectly acceptable for me to walk in there sans the bra, but since I can no longer blame my hallucinations and 1/3 of my pride is back, I added the bra.

As I slunk past the bell-ringer, my eyes caught a flashing "20 Days to Christmas!" sign and I literally stopped in my tracks and stared at the sign. 20 days? 20...as in only 6 days more than 2 weeks?! What the (we'll go with heck!) I couldn't believe it! Where had I been?

Home. I had been at home.  In bed.  In bed with the monster flu.  Monster as in the kind old people die from.  In bed for a week.  That just doesn't happen to me.  I was finally up-right, but I had lost a whole week of Christmas planning.  Today I was dressed by 1...in actual jeans and shoes, but I still feel blah, and I don't want to feel blah...it's December! My favorite month of the year.

Quincy's been bugging me to let the creepy little elf out of his box for the last two days, but seriously, I just don't have the heart.  There were many nights last Christmas when I had to rouse myself from bed to go move the little bugger to a new hiding place, and I just can't face it yet.  (I was usually up watering my tree anyway, so two birds, one stone).  I figure if he shows up 2 weeks before Christmas it'll all be just fine. 

College girl is coming home in about 10 days, and I need to be my peppy, perky, holiday-buzzed, overly exuberant self for the rest of the year. I don't have time to wait around for the Christmas spirit to arrive.  I need it NOW!  So, I guess I need a plan.  Here goes:

1. Cut back on all the things I think I need to do to make it a Merry Christmas.
2. Do something nice for someone.
3. Get a peppermint shake from Chik-fil-A.
4. Get my tree up this weekend.
5. Break out the hot cocoa.
6. Watch a Christmas movie...STAT! (I watched It's a Wonderful Life while I had the flu but I wanted to join George when he jumped off the bridge).
7. Get Grammy's nativity set out.
8. Don't even think of making a Santa out of bread for anyone this year!
9. Listen to Christmas music.
10. Focus on the real reason we celebrate Christmas.

That should do it.  I'll start tomorrow.