A Freaky Family

It's been an awesome weekend. H and I got into a tiny argument once and only once at B&N. It was a bit sad, and funnily enough we said somethings that the each needed to hear. You know those little things like "I love you" and "You're the only person I want to be with." I think that we forgot that the other person needs to hear the things we think are obvious. And maybe because we said those things, we had this very simple but beautiful weekend.

Saturday, H worked extra hard on his Statement of Purpose so he could join us a birthday party. We went to the park where we meet up with some friends, told jokes, ate cake, and just hung out. Afterwards we went shopping at Trader Joe's which was INSANELY busy but I was feeling so good that I didn't grumpy. Not even once. This is seriously a record for me. Those who know me know what a big deal this is. We came home, ate, cuddled and watched a movie with the whole family.

Today was just as simple and wonderful. Call me a recluse but there is simply nothing better than being around the family. We all did our own thing for most of the day but it was like we were acutely aware of each other being around. After dinner, we watched "The Christmas Carol" which is a favorite Christmas story of mine and I've been wanting to see the new version with Jim Carey's voice since last year. It was nice but not nearly as good at the old version.

For me the weekend was capsuled by a couple of things that happened in relation to the movie. The first was that the kids were deliciously spooked by the Ghost of Christmas Future" and when the skeleton hand pointed out, Camille and I, at the same time, said is spooky voices "The Grim Reaper." We both started laughing and I commented to H "Oh my God, we are ALL so weird." It pleases me that we're such quirky people and that our kids are as well.

After the movie, the kids talked with us about how Christmas is about more then getting gifts. They kept saying "It's about being with your family. Like when Scrooge went to his nephew's house." This was the main thing they wanted to emphasize. They also seemed to get in a way that they haven't before that the season is about giving as well as getting. I don't want to pretend that it's not fun to get presents (it is!) but I do want them to be aware that there is also pleasure in giving. I also like how on the characters says Christmas is the season when humans realize that that the rest of the world is human too. I like to think that I do this all year and that I teach my kids this all year but you know it's nice to get that yearly reminder.

We're a freaky family for sure but we've got each other to be freak with. It doesn't get much better than this.