At this point, all I can do is laugh about my Christmas day. Woke up bright and early Christmas morning to a tummy ache and some nausea. I chose to ignore it and my little family and I had a wonderful morning of “Santa came!” joy and present unwrapping. The excitement in my kiddos eyes (yes, even little Lando’s!) was all that I hoped it would be and more and worth every second of work that went into making this Christmas magical for them.

By 9am I wasn’t feeling too hot. Ended up puking and spending Christmas day curled up in a ball, clutching my stomach and drifting in and out of sleep. I was so sad that I didn’t get to spend the day with all of my family back home – it was the first Christmas in my life that I didn’t see my parents! But ya know what? This was a very humbling experience for me. As I moaned and groaned in pain I kept thinking of the more gut-wrenching pain that the families of those affected by the Newtown shooting were experiencing on this Christmas day. And I thought about people all around our planet who are missing loved ones and those people who don’t even know what the joy of Christmas is all about. So, while I was miserable, I know that there were people out there suffering much greater than I was. My heart hurt for them, too.

Today I am counting my blessings. I am feeling much better (just very weak from not eating for 24 hours). I am so grateful for a hubby who stepped it up an extra notch to take care of me and our children yesterday. I’m grateful that my kiddos still had a wonderful Christmas and spent the day feeling happy and healthy. I am grateful that I got to enjoy Christmas morning and the days leading up to it. And most of all, I am grateful for getting to spend Christmas surrounded by my three favorite people in the whole wide world. Really, that’s all that matters.

And we were blessed with a very beautiful white Christmas!

I truly hope that your Christmas was extra magical and special to make up for mine!