"It's that time of year when the world falls in love . . . "
These words from the Christmas Waltz make for a nice gesture in a song sung for one month during the year, but whoever wrote that song was not in my house tonight. We are just four days into the "official" Christmas break, however, we had the pleasure of three snow days last week, followed by only a half-day of school on Friday to end the semester. So even though it's day four, it's more like day eight and there's a line from It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas which is more appropriate for our family.
" . . .and Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again." My children normally get along very well, but they are on each other's last nerves. Alex has done nothing (and I do mean nothing- not even played a video game) but follow his sister around pestering her. Right now he is nursing a loose, permanent tooth from the latest wrestling match held in her room, which he locked her out of so that he could watch a movie that he is not the least bit interested in. Needless to say, there is no falling in love in the Wheeler world tonight.
In his defense, Alex was supposed to have two basketball games tonight, which were canceled due to the weather. He is pretty bummed about it. On top of that he is beside himself about opening gifts tomorrow night and Christmas morning. Even beyond that, he is becoming quite excited about our upcoming trip to Colorado. He isn't old enough to be in our church youth group, but we are stowing him away. He will get to be with a lot of kids from church that he really admires and enjoys. Who could blame the kid for being pumped?
I can't say that I can blame him for being worked up. Jeff and I have gone on this Colorado trip with our church youth group, but it has been a while. The last time we helped sponsor, Rachel was one and a half. It was a great time (especially for Rachel), but we told the youth minister we would wait until Rachel was in youth before we would go again. Now it is twelve years later (How did that happen?) and Steve is holding us to our word. I am excited and yet a bit nervous. The last time we went, we were still clinging to our twenties and I didn't have a teenage daughter. My perspective on what is fun may be slightly different on this trip. I am praying for the energy and patience I will need on this trip as well as the ability to let loose and have fun. Please feel free to pray for me (and all those involved) as well.
We will be giving a full report when we return. Hopefully a good dose of fresh mountain air and activity is all we need to feel the love in our home again! Obviously Rachel will be experiencing some serious blogging withdrawal as she will not have access to the Internet for five whole days. Look out when she returns because she will have some pictures to download and tons of information to relay!
Thank you for praying for us and I hope there is some love in your household during the Christmas break!