Winter Holiday Blues

I guess the winter blues have got me down. The past couple of days have been emotionally rough on me for reasons that I don't understand. I have nothing to be depressed or sad about, but yet for some reason I am. I have been crying over silly stuff, tired all the time, temperamental and pretty much angry at everything.

Bill and I had a long discussion yesterday about this and have reached the conclusion that it's a case of winter blues or depression. The culprit is probably due to poor diet intake (more sweets than I'm used to due to all the parties lately and lack of will power), lack of exercise (because I have been a real slacker lately), and a lot to do with not getting the serotonin I need from the sun (because we haven't seen the sun for many days) - or in other words some kind of chemical imbalance within myself.

Anyway, I was a real witch (with a B) yesterday. I yelled at my kids for no reason, pushed my wonderful sweet husband away by saying nasty things, refused to go on a Mother and Sisters outing with my family yesterday. All of which are not like me. So I really have a lot of apologizing to do and hope that each person I hurt will forgive me. I am so sorry to all of you for anything I did or said that hurt you.

Today I have really made an effort to make things better. The sun shining today has helped a lot. I got up early and went out to work, I am focusing on a much healthier diet, and I am going to fit some excercise into my schedule today.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of madness during the holiday's or winter? What do you do or have you done to help get yourself back in balance? I am really curious to see if I am just the only crazy one out there. I would appreciate any suggestions or tips to make sure this does not happen again.

Traditions: Family Party

Every Christmas we get together with all of my extended family on my Mother's side and have a Christmas party. It is always in Delta, where most of my family is from. This past Saturday was our Christmas Party. We always start out by having a nice dinner. We rotate every year, which head of family is put in charge of organizing and preparing the meal. This year we had a Potato Bar with all the fixings. YUMMY! There were lots of goodies and treats afterwards. Santa comes and brings all the kids under 18 a sack full of goodies. There were 29 kids this year. They all get to sit in Santa's lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. The little kids draw names earlier in the year and had their gift exchange. Me and my cousins generation buy a girl and a guy gift and play a game while reading a story, moving the gifts around in a cirle and whatever gift you have when the story is done is the gift you get to open and keep. My mother's siblings exchange gifts and everyone usually gets something for Grandma. We rent a place that is large enough to hold us all... about 75 people... and also has room to play basketball or other games and the kids can run around and have lots of fun. It's always a fun time. Getting together with family that you don't get to see on a regular basis is always something I look forward too. I'm glad that we have had this tradition in my family for many many years for as long as I can remember. And I hope we can keep it going for many more years to come. Because, afterall, isn't that what Christmas is about? Spending time with your loved ones? I am very grateful for the closeness we share as a family, and that we all really enjoy each other's company. I was very bad though, and didn't take any pictures. I'm mad at myself for not having any pictures to post. So... I decided to post some pictures from the party from 2003.



My Grandma crocheted everyone hats this year.


Shellise - Not so big like she is now :)


My Grandma and Santa


My Jessie Boy! A much younger version.

The gift exchange. Grandma opening her gifts.

Elf Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I saw this on my friend's blog and couldn't resist. You all should try it too! Thanks Michelle!

On a much lighter note...

We have enjoyed getting our home ready for the Holiday's. Here is a slideshow of the decorations.

One of my greatest fears...

One of my greatest fears (not the greatest, but a close runner up) came to fruition today. For those of you that don't know, my husband, Bill, drives the big trucks for FedEx Freight. At 1:00 this morning he left for Las Vegas pulling 3 trailers. Earlier in the day it snowed and then it got really cold but the roads were clear and dry until he reached the Fillmore/Meadow area on I-15. He then hit black ice and his back trailer went flipping into the median, followed by his middle trailer, and just as the truck itself started tipping he was able to pull out of it and stop.

At 5:50 this morning, after startling myself awake when I realized I hadn't heard from him in a while, I called and called his phone and couldn't reach him. A deep dread came over me, but fortunately he called shortly after that and told me what happened. That although it was a huge mess, and he would be there for many hours, HE WAS NOT INJURED and nobody else was involved. That was the most wonderful news for me!!! He said that the Highway Patrol was working on two separate accidents involving cars that hit that same black ice, just as he hit it and went out of control. Luckily no one was injured as far as I know.

There are so many things that could have happened to make this a much worse situation. I am very grateful to a loving Heavenly Father who listens to our prayers every time we pray before Bill leaves on one of his trips. I am thankful to Heavenly Father for watching out for him and keeping him safe. Every single time he leaves I fear for his safety. I worry and I am not relieved of that worry until I know he has reached his destination safely.

Unfortunately, after many hours of being delayed, they still sent Bill on to Las Vegas instead of sending him back home. So, I don't even get to see him or hold him until tomorrow morning sometime. He was pretty shaken up and wanted to come home but the freight that he had in the one trailer left still had to be delivered. Such is the life of a freight truck driver.

It is a HUGE fear of mine that I will lose someone else I love in some kind of automobile accident. After losing my Cousin's 15 year old son in an automobile accident last December, it really scares me to know how quickly a life can be taken in a blink of an eye.

I am very grateful and happy that I was given the blessing of being spared what would be the greatest loss in my life.

Thanksgiving and Other Random Things

Thanksgiving for me was a little different this year. I am used to LOTS of family around, Immediate and Extended Family - Usually up to 50+ people. This year, however, was just Bill and I and my Mom and Dad. Only 4 of us. Everyone had in-laws to go to and my kids were with their Dad's family. It was very nice, AND very quiet. It was Different. I enjoyed the time we got to spend with Mom and Dad, but I think I like the noise of all the family around. I can't believe I said that because I have complained about the noisy chaos in the past. Mom did an awesome job of preparing the food and the pies. I thought my homemade dinner rolls turned out awesome. The rolls and the pies are the best part of the meal!

Later that evening, we took dinner up to our friends, the Bettridge's, at Primary Children's Hospital. We were glad to see that Erik is doing a little better. We hope he can make a full recovery from his injury. See my earlier post for more information. http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=108401111767017590&postID=3177152485798816695

Erik in Therapy petting the rehab dog.

After we got home we finished off the evening by watching our favorite classic Christmas movie "A Christmas Story". Bill had never seen it so I definately had to break him into the tradition. You either love it or you hate it. I am glad to say that Bill loved it as much as we do.

I didn't do any of the madness early morning Black Friday shopping like I usually do. There wasn't anything that great on sale that I needed. So we slept in and went shopping a little later. I was able to get the things I wanted and I didn't fight any crowds. However, I do have to admit that I did miss the years past when me, my mom and sisters would be standing in lines at 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning to get the must have sale items. Those were good times.

On Saturday, we celebrated Bill's birthday (which is today, Sunday) I took Bill to his first ever Desert Star Theater performance of "Miracle on 42nd Street: Give My Regards to Blitzen" http://www.desertstar.biz/playhouse_now_playing.htm. We had front row seats and had a wonderful time. If you have never been, I would recommend to anyone. They have 5 or 6 shows every year. By clicking on the link above you can see the line up for next year's shows. Afterwards, we had family and friends over for cake and ice cream. We also watched "The Grinch" with Jim Carey. We really enjoyed the company and thank those of you who came to help celebrate Bill's special day.

While the kids went to the hockey game with their dad that evening, Bill and I started getting the house all decorated for Christmas. We will be putting up 2 trees this year. The artificial will go downstairs and the live tree will go upstairs. My brother and brother-in-law, every Thanksgiving weekend, gets tree tags and cuts their own trees and usually gets me one if I want. We got the artificial tree all decorated today, while we watched "Elf". The live tree will be decorated in a couple days.

At the close of our weekend, we dreadfully sent Jessie back home to Cedar City and Bill went off to work. Shellise finished off her weekend tonight by watching "Pirates of the Caribbean". And I sit nestled in front of this computer updating my blog, in hopes that I will get to hear from all of you who may be reading this :)

While it was a different kind of Thanksgiving for me... It was very nice. I got to spend it with my favorite people, had a terrific Birthday Celebration for my sweetheart, and was able to get the "Christmas Spirit" started in our home. What more can I ask for?

Things I love about my husband.....

Sunday, November 30th is my Sweetheart’s birthday and I want to post this tribute in honor of him because he does so much for me that I am so thankful for. And I want to let the whole world know, what a terrific man he is. I sometimes feel inadequate and undeserving of his love, and I sometimes find it hard to believe that he is truly my husband. I want him to know that I know how blessed I am to have him in my life and that I love him so very much, with all my heart. (These aren’t in any particular order)

Sweetheart, I love you for……

Your Sensitivity. Whether it be my feelings, or a song you are listening too, or a movie you are watching. You can be so sensitive and tender hearted at times, and it really touches me that as a man you are not afraid to show this side of you.

Your Compassion. For always thinking of others and what you can do to help them to make their day better, or something they’re doing a little easier.

For the way you look at me. All I have to do is look into your eyes to know how much you love and adore me. It brings me so much comfort to know that you do and be able to see it in your eyes at all times.

For showing me how much you love me in everything you do and say every single day.

For being a true gentleman. For always holding the doors open for me as well as helping me in and out of the car. There aren’t many gentlemen in this world anymore. I am glad you are one of them as it shows how much you respect and honor me.

Being a fantastic cook. You are truly talented in the kitchen. I love ALL things you make for us.

For being a frugal spender, or as you put it a “cheap bastard”! I like that you are careful about money and always looking for good deals. I need a good lesson in this. I have never been good at it.

For your love of music. I love that we love the same genre of songs. But I really love that you like to listen to the sappy love songs and Delilah at night on 106.5. I also love that there is music playing in the house most of the time.

For your talent in playing the bagpipes. I never knew how much skill it takes to play them. I love listening to the music you play. I love how it makes you feel inside, because it takes you into your Scottish heritage.

For your empathic abilities. Because you feel so deeply when something might be wrong or if something might happen ahead of time. It also means I can’t ever hide my feelings from you…even though I try at times.

For being Mr. Romantic! You always have such good ideas to keep the romance alive in our marriage. I love the fact that you truly love being like that.

I love that you would rather spend personal, intimate, quality time with me than watch TV or do anything else. I love the way we can talk for hours and enjoy doing nothing but just being together.

For being a great Massage Therapist. You have great hands babe! Whenever I have muscle aches and pains… you know just what to do to make me feel better.

I love that you love to be active outdoors, whether it’s Paragliding, Hiking, Snowboarding, Bike Riding, Walking, etc. We have made some good memories doing these activities. I loved the Paragliding ride even though I was so afraid to do it. And I look forward to learning how to snowboard (I think) this winter. I also look forward to all the hikes we are planning to do next summer.

For loving my kids as much as you do your own. I am grateful to you for taking them under your wing and guiding them and caring about them as a father should. I am really glad that we can be a family.

For your wonderful and sometimes distorted sense of humor. You are a great comedian! I love the fact that you can always make me laugh. I love your mischievousness and the way you play around and tease. You like to have as much fun as I do. You bring so much joy and laughter into our household everyday. It makes life so much more enjoyable.

For loving to dance with me. I love that you will, out of the blue, ask me for a dance. I love the dances we have shared and look forward to many more.

For watching the chick flicks with me and liking them.

For standing up for the things you believe in. I love the fact that you are not afraid to speak your mind or stand up to someone, if you feel you are being wronged.

For your love of the Lord, your knowledge of Gospel Principles and the scriptures. I really admire that in you. For being a convert to the church, you have more of a testimony and knowledge in these things than I do, being a member all my life.

For praying with me daily. I love our personal prayers together and our family prayers. I am so glad I have someone who honors this principle and knows of its importance. I am greatly blessed to have a husband who honors his priesthood in our home.

For always holding my hand wherever we go or wherever we are, whether it be in the car or out on a walk. I love that you love this as much as I do.

I love your tenderness, all your Hugs, Kisses, and your touch. For being so loving and caring to me. For the intimacy you share with me.

I love your smile and the sparkle in your eyes. I also like the innocent look you get on your face when you are being mischievous.

You have a wonderful heart of gold. You are thoughtful, tender, kind and loving to everyone. I love how you treat my mom and grandma and the love you show to all my family. That really means a lot to me.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart! May you always know how special and dear to me you are. I Love You!