New Year's Resolutions

Argh! How did I get so behind on my blog? Oh, wait, now I remember. Two ear infections, one in Turtle, then one in Monkey, diagnosed on December 23 and 24. Waiting until the last minute to finish my Christmas shopping. Refinancing our home mortgage. Lots of company. Straightening up and putting away the new gifts. Taking advantage of great sales to get myself a couple of things. Spending evening after evening working on a home budget that would allow me to stay home with the girls full time in 2009. Going out to First Night Austin on New Year’s Eve so I could say we “did something” for New Years. Taking down and putting away the Christmas decorations. Watching the Longhorns squeak by in the Fiesta Bowl. Celebrating Oma’s 60th birthday. So . . . now you’re caught up on everything that’s happened since my last post.


In the time since I started this post this morning, though, I found out that my Grandpa Luna died. So instead of finishing up this post by giving you a pithy insight about embracing all the special moments in my holiday hoopla, I’m just going to tell you that I’m really sad that all of my grandparents are gone now. It feels unreal that the people I spent every childhood Christmas Eve with – Grandpa and Grandma Luna, and the people I spent every childhood Christmas Day with – Grandpa and Grandma Harber, are all gone from the earth. Not to mention that my mother has been missing from all of my Christmases since I was 14.

I had what I consider to be a pretty stressful holiday because, as usual, I got caught up in the doing rather than in the being. I really want Monkey and Turtle to have warm memories of pleasant, relaxing Christmases. I don’t remember my mom running around hysterically like a chicken with her head cut off, and neither she nor any of my grandparents were in any way the uptight, scripted, overscheduled person I seem to become in certain situations.

So my New Year’s Resolutions are to become a full time stay-at-home mom, and to relax. That’s it. Oh sure I have this big list of other goals written down in my journal but for awhile I’m going to pretend that those don’t exist and just chill out. My Grandpa Luna often went to downtown San Antonio and just sat on a park bench in front of the Alamo, drinking beer and people watching. I’m sure if you saw him you might think he was a homeless person. But he didn’t care. He enjoyed just hanging out, and I hope I will find it in myself to do the same in 2009.