December 15, 2008

The weekend was very snowy and I HATE snow. It's okay right before Christmas, but before that and after that, it is not allowed. I went to pick Roberto up from work and there was a HUGE accident along the highway. People insist on driving fast. Emeli, on the other hand, is a huge fan of snow. She likes to say she hates it, but I can tell she loves it. She went stomping through it out in the backyard on Sunday morning in her boots. You can see where she walked all over the yard. Her favorite thing to is eat the snow. EVERY year, I have to remind her that snow is made from polluted water and I do not want her to eat it. EVERY year she listens to me and then five minutes later, she is out eating snow...grrr!!

This week at work is going to be pretty low key and then I have Christmas vacation for a whole week!!! Yeah!!! I get to sleep in, hang out with my boys and just do nothing but cook, bake and enjoy the holiday.

This time last year, I was working at Roberts and it was the pits. Christmas at Roberts means you get to deal with all the crabby last minute shoppers.

Last year on Christmas Eve, Roberto proposed to me. I was sitting there watching people unwrap presents. Roberto said, "Here's something for Judi to unwrap..." and handed me a little box. I unwrapped it and there was a ring in it. Roberto dropped to his knees, took my hand, and asked me to marry him. I was so surprised. I said, "What are you doing? Of course, I will marry you!!" but he didn't hear me and a couple of minutes later, he said, "You never answered me." I laughed and told him I had immediately answered him. Are you kidding? I wasn't going to let him get away. And I have been blessed to have a wonderful, sweet husband who is my best friend.

I am especially looking forward to spending the holidays with Roberto. We have adopted some traditions for our family. Since Roberto is German and grew up celebrating Christmas in the German tradition, we do both German and American traditions. Every Sunday (or Monday nights if Roberto is working late on Sunday) we sing Christmas songs with a candle burning. Each week you burn a new candle in addition to the candle you burned the weeks before. On December 6, we celebrated Sinterklaas by laying out shoes and getting treats in them. On Christmas Eve, we will unwrap some Christmas presents and then on Christmas Day, we will unwrap more. We are trying to create family traditions for our new family and I know Brett and Emeli love it.

I am so blessed to have wonderful children and a wonderful husband. I can't imagine spending the holidays alone and I am so blessed to have family around me.