Christmas Day is ending

It's late on Christmas day.  I love Christmas and I am always sad to see it go, but as many of us mothers' know, Christmas time is exhausting!  I love that I get to share with the kids a lot of wonderful memories.  I love riding around to look at Christmas lights.  I love taking them to the same Santa and getting their picture each year.  I love reading Twas the Night Before Christmas to them.  I love reading to them about the story of Jesus birth.  I love getting joy out of making them joyful.  I enjoy Christmas Eve service and the Grace God bestows on us.  I love getting to share God's message.  However, it is exhausting!  I just put so much pressure on trying to bake goodies for friends and get out cards with a picture of the kids and finding the right gift at the right price, and everything  else that "Supermom" does, that I have worn myself out. 

I want to go to church tomorrow and not need to rush to get everything done.  Sunday I hope to go to church, have a nice lunch at home with the kids, watch them play their new Wii, and take a nap.  If I get energetic, I hope to go to see the new Narnia and Yogi movie with the boys and my Dad and my nephew in the next few days.  Monday is the much anticipated Neurology appointment.  I just hope they can figure out exactly what is not working correctly and how to fix it.  Tuesday I am getting my first mammogram and my ultra sound on my neck to check for blockage.  I also need to see the dentist before school starts.  I am scheduled to begin student teaching Jan. 3.  Life is about to get even more busy.  I think I need a few naps in the coming week.  God is in my plan and it is helping me to try to remember the joy and not to reflect on the stressful things I have going on right now.  My kids had a great Christmas thanks to friends from church and they were very happy with the gifts they received from their grandparents and aunt and uncle and cousins.  Friends just topped out Christmas week.  I was gratified to see many friends and spend some time with them on Christmas Eve.  I really have great friends!  I have an amazing church!  Without both, Christmas gifts would have been much smaller to say the least.  I also have an awesome family and extended family!  So, through all the crazy hustle and bustle, I do remember the joy and I am getting better at giving "it" to God and beginning each day anew.  I aim to go to bed each night thanking God for my blessings and I am trying to praise Him each morning and throughout the day.  I am also trying to do it in front of my children even more often to help teach them this pattern.  Writing this blog is helping me stay focused on the joy!
Happy New Year!