Where do I begin?
Hmm, well, before I begin, let me just forewarn you all that I'm in a hell of a bad mood, so if I sound a little pissy, well, that's why.
So!
I guess I'll start where I left off, which was right around the start of the Christmas holidays. I didn't end up taking Leila to the Wildflower center, because it was just too much at the end of the day, BUT I did decide which flower to focus on for her science project - daisies! Of course, daisies, since she just started Daisy Girl Scouts! Aren't I a genius?!
Anyhow, moving on, the holiday break from school has been great because I was just DYING, getting up so early to get the kids off to school every day, and then not even getting any rest before it was time to go pick them up! Not that I'm exactly thrilled to start it all up again, but at least this time I won't have the stress of never knowing whether or not I'll be guilt-tripped into babysitting when I kinda don't want to but feel obligated to do so...*ahem*...anyway!
Like I said, it was great not having to get up early every day, but my holidays were pretty stressful, which more or less canceled out most of the rest I should have been getting.
Let me explain; if I remember correctly, it was back in...May?...when I had it out with my mother-in-law over...well, never mind, I'm pretty sure my husband wouldn't appreciate me publishing it on my blog, because he doesn't quite understand that I'm no Dooce, so I won't go into all the gory details (sorry! But, hey, message me on Facebook and I'll be more than happy to spill it - privately!), but the feud continues thus far, which made it really hard to have any kind of holiday plans with my husband, as a family, because his mother and I are not on friendly terms, and I refuse to go to her house. So, I figured my husband would ditch me in favor of the usual Christmas eve deal at his mom's, and I made plans to spend Christmas eve with my bestest friend. Well, it turned out that I was wrong! In fact, Frank and I ended up getting a little snippy with each other because apparently he had planned not to spend more than an hour or so at his mom's house on Christmas eve, so that he could come home and spend the holiday with me! I should have been touched, but instead I was kind of irritated because he didn't tell me this until the last minute, and then he expected me to cancel my plans to hang out with my bestest girlfriend. So, we modified our plans to include Frank, and very nearly didn't end up spending Christmas eve together at all, which would have been a disaster for me because Frank ended up not leaving his mom's Christmas eve festivities until around 2am. So much for spending Christmas eve with me...!
And it's not that I expected him to ditch his family gathering to sit at home and sulk with me, because I'm not that kind of bitchy wife who hates her in-laws and expects her husband to choose between his family and me. But I have to admit, not so deep down inside, I really, really would like it if he would make plans with me first and his mom second LIKE ANY OTHER NORMAL ADULT MAN WHO'S A HUSBAND AND A FATHER!
Ok, I'm over that rant. Oh, yeah, except, I'm NOT, because he turned around and did it to me again for New Years eve (should all these 'eves' be capitalized?). So, I'm not above admitting that I've been feeling pretty funky lately, what with the disappointing holidays and the fact that Frank and I are in the worst place, financially, that we've ever been in, and oh, yeah, I was not going to talk about our financial problems here because I just don't want to talk about it. In fact, I'm not going to say anything more than that, because the truth is that I don't want to talk about it. I just don't. I can't. But I did want to throw that out there, because I wanted to let you know why I haven't felt much like blogging lately, so you weren't out there thinking I just dropped off the face of the Earth.
And you know what else? I did not take a single holiday picture this year. Not one. No Santa pictures, no tree or opening presents pictures, no family dinner pictures. None. For one thing, the kids never cooperate and the pictures never come out the way I had hoped and I always end up feeling frustrated and disappointed over them, and for another thing, I just didn't have it in me this year. I wasn't anticipating enjoying the holidays, so I didn't particularly feel like documenting all that lack of joy.
Not that I didn't enjoy the holidays as far as the kids go, because I did. I DID enjoy watching the kids unwrap their presents and having fun with their toys and clothes (yes, my kids like clothes, the weirdos), and we were very blessed to have family (and strangers) who care enough about us and our kids to supplement what little Frank and I were able to give our kids for Christmas, so that the kids, at least, didn't need to know just how meager our holidays could have been. But as for pictures, well, I just wasn't feeling it this year. I'm sure you understand.
SO! How were YOUR holidays?