DAY 10

Celebrate every milestone, is what I say. Well, I'm saying it now at least. Just 10 days left until my 40th birthday. And it's Christmas Day. My sweet friend who had that Dec 17th due date is still waiting, I believe. My mom can feel her pain. Or could, about 40 years ago.

We woke up to the giddy giggles of two kids excited to open presents. Even when I'm completely exhausted, that sound is even better than a great cup of coffee. My older one, who is about to be 7, has been doubting the whole Santa thing, but not completely sure either way. My husband and I have never pushed too hard on the belief for our kids, but we want them to enjoy it as long as it suits them. So, my response is always, Some people believe in Santa and some don't . I've never seen him, so I don't really know. What do you think? And even as my older one says that Santa's not real, I can hear the hesitation to fully commit to that. It's cute. Maybe there's a fear that the disbelief might equal fewer presents somehow. So, we set up the test: One freshly baked cookie and the milk. Older child quizzed me to make sure that no thieves or bad guys could break in and pretend to be Santa. All doors and windows locked? check. Only way in is through the chimney? check. No real person can fit through the chimney, which is why Santa uses magic? check.

So, this morning upon waking, the milk and cookie test was almost more pressing than the presents. Santa ate the cookie, leaving a few large crumbs behind on the plate and drank about half of the milk. He even wrote a little thank you note in cursive (which Mom and Dad never write in!) at the bottom of the note that we left which read: "Santa only!" - meaning that only Santa could eat the cookie. My older child was convinced, even a little relieved I think, to see that Santa had, in fact, come to our house and left our deserving children with a couple of special presents this year. I don't even remember when I stopped believing in Santa. I don't really remember believing in him. I had 2 older brothers who I'm pretty sure spoiled it for me early on. But, I don't feel like I missed out on anything and I don't think I felt like I did then. Christmas was still a ton of fun, even on the lean years. Because, getting a toy or two was enough when you got to spend all day in your jammies with the whole family and nobody had to go to work or school or be stressed out trying to get somewhere. Surely that's a really big part of the Christmas Magic.

Which is why I started to question my sanity just a little bit as we attempted to pack up and leave for a week long trip today. In some ways, it was a good scheme. Let the kids open all their gifts early and then husband and I pack and load the car while they play with all their new toys. Only, for me, leaving town tends to be a bit stressful, because I always feel like I'm forgetting something and we tend to bring so much stuff when we're driving because we can. Add to that, the occasional eruptions of sibling rivalry and I was having a hard time focusing on all the things I needed to do (water the plants, feed the fish and the cat, etc.) We got on the road about 12:45, only 45 min after our plan, and found the interstate gloriously deserted. We were out of Chicago in 15 minutes - unheard of any other day of the year. And a trip that usually takes us 7 hours, took about 5 and a half. A couple of hours of pack-it-up stress dissolved with road trip bliss. Today I got a glimpse of what life might be like without traffic. Or what it might be like after a zombie apocalypse without any zombies around. It was nice.

We made it to our hotel and pulled together a modest dinner out of the 4 bags + 1 cooler of food I packed (one more reason why it's so hard for me to pack for a trip, but so worth it when I can avoid the fast food trap) The kids were happily exhausted from an exciting day, and we've still got our whole trip ahead of us.

Gratitude: Today, I'm grateful for the gorgeous sunset I saw as we were driving south, the smooth ride down the highway, for my family staying safe amid the El Nino tornado season, for our chance to reconnect with them this week and for this moment right now, to savor today's journey.

With just... wait a minute. I just realized something hilarious. I started this blog on December 5th at Day 30, but since December has 31 days in it (of course!), I've been ahead by a day this whole time! If I wasn't the only one awake in a quiet hotel room, I would be laughing out loud right now. I'm actually really good at math, but it's the simple equations that trip me up. Good grief! Well, this is interesting. Rather than recount my days, or have two DAY 10s, I'm going to leave that last day as a BONUS day. And I'm sure that something extraordinary will happen on that day. No pressure, January 4th, but you gotta top all 30 days that precede you in some remarkable way. At least you've got 10 days to prepare. hmm. The idea of a bonus day is growing on me. I'll have to dream on that a bit.

goodnight. ~k