Life Lessons From a Goldfish

Our fish died this week.  In my mind I thought, "Pebbles lived a good long life for a beta fish.  Let's go to the pet store and find his replacement."  That is not what happened however.  Somehow talk turned from a replacement beta fish to "let's get a chameleon".  The kids were asking for hamsters, lizards, dogs - you name it.  Unfortunately for them, Mark and I are not huge animal people.  I talked them back down to getting a fish and every day Paolo asked "can we get a fish today?"  Well, later in the week, Nana agreed to take them to the pet store so Paolo and Elise went along and showed up sometime later, not with a beta fish, but with 3 goldfish, a pleicostimus (sucker fish) and a 10 gallon aquarium.  They were so excited and said that the lady at the pet store said that if we wanted them to live a long time, they would need an aquarium.  Of course they would - I was not so excited.  My thoughts were - where are we going to put this thing? Who is going to clean it?  Now we have to go buy a pump and rocks and plants.....

There have been so many times throughout my married life that I have seen first hand how it truly must be the way God planned it for children to have 2 parents.  Someone's got to be up if the other is down.  Someone's got to be strong if the other is feeling week.  And someone has got to see wonder and curiousity when the other sees mess and clutter.  When I told Mark about the aquarium, he was all for it and  it made me think.  What was going on in my life that an aquarium would cause me stress?  How was I missing the complete joy and excitement on my 5 year olds face from something as simple as a goldfish?

The next day, Ava and I went down to the petstore and bought the filter and the rocks and the plants and I got to witness even more wonder and curiousity on the face of my 2 year old as we walked through the store looking at birds and rats and kittens and all kinds of beautiful fish.  I cleared a perfect spot for the aquarium in the house and the kids loved putting it all together and watching the fish as we dumped them into their home.  Such a small thing, but I welcome the small things that bring me clarity and help me to enjoy my children while they are young.

Absolute Beauty

We had an opportunity to make it up to the cabin while there was snow.  When we arrived there was almost no snow left on the ground but as usual we still had a good amount around the cabin.  The kids played for hours out there (Diego was not with us).

As Phoenicians, we escape all the hardship that goes along with living in a climate where it snows but we sure miss out on a lot of natural beauty.

The last night we were there, it snowed while we were sleeping.  We woke up to the most magical, peaceful, untouched wonderland - complete with fog.

Once again I sit back, take a deep breath and wonder how and why I am so blessed.



Catching Up Again

Here we go again - so much has happened in such a short time.  That's the holiday season for you.  The kids had the whole week off before Christmas which was nice.  They made their annual gingerbread house and Daddy was around to help make it look so nice.

December 23rd is always the official start of the Christmas celebration around here.  Our neighborhood does luminaria so as block captains we are responsible for setting up a hundred or so luminarias on this day.  It is also the day that we make cheese pierogis for our Christmas Eve Polish Willia (spelling?) Dinner.  Well, things were a little different this year.  Usually Steve and Stacia bring the kids over to help with luminaria.  It is Ashley's birthday and she has had this as part of her birthday routine for years.  Ashley turned 18 this year and between her and Steve's work schedule and wanting to squeeze in lunch together, they did not make it over.  As far as pierogis - my mom always guides the process and usually Leslie and Michele, sometimes Peggy and Becky, come and help.  This year it was Mom and I and the girls and Greg stepped in for the second half.  A much quieter day and we did not make any cookies either.  I am not complaining, just noting how when you do things a certain way with certain people over and over, you miss it when things are different.  But it is soooo important to keep these traditions going - no matter who is able to show up!  Jules and Elise have always loved making pierogi and Paolo got into it too.

Every year Mom worries that the pierogi aren't right and threatens to buy them at the Polish deli.  Every year they are wonderful and delicious and homemade with love.  Diego roped in some friends to help with luminaria and good ol' Grandpa directed things and somehow it all got done.

That evening, the Gonzales Family gathered at Danny and Carmen's hall and had a big potluck with lots of food and desserts.  It was a really fun evening.  Uncle Danny dressed up as Santa and we had a giant white elephant gift exchange.  Chris brought his DJ equipment and played a different song for every person who got up to get a gift.  It was hilarious and we laughed and laughed.  Diego picked two of the gifts that we brought!  So much for getting rid of junk!

All of the kids got to sit on Santa's lap and who knew Santa was such a comedian?!

Diego even sat on his lap but the picture was very fuzzy.  I think he asked for a pink pony and a Barbie house or something like that.   Another comedian :)  Ava wanted nothing to do with Santa so she just sat tight with Tata Joe.

There was some dancing too.  The girls wore special socks just so they could slide across the floor.

The next day was Christmas Eve and Mark was off for the next 4 days - a defitnite perk to being an RTO.  We worked away to have the house ready.  We have not hosted Christmas Eve for years but it was actually kind of fun.  We moved out all the furniture and set up tables and in the end it really looked nice.  Diego had been sick and Ava fell asleep right before Mass so I stayed home with the two of them.  It really felt strange to miss Christmas Eve mass and it made me appreciate my faith.  I thought of all the people who just celebrate Christmas as a secular holiday and I wondered - what are they celebrating?  The older I get the more I have come to love the story that we are wrapped up in as humans.  The story of God coming to be with us, to be one of us.  It gives meaning and joy and hope to the whole crazy madness that Christmas can be.  So I missed it and I felt it. 

We have been having Willia for as long as I can remember and I think my mom would say the same.  It is a special 7 course meatless meal full of traditions and meaning.  It is absolutey, hands down, my favorite part of the holiday season.  It was another great meal.  Becky and Tyler and Maren were in town and so was Greg.

Mom's legendary, must have, homemade eggnog.



Leslie got the best dressed award with Grandma Jane's retro shawl.  She looked beautiful!  And no, we don't really have a best dressed award :)

All my girls looked so pretty.

These two were a total crack up during dinner.  They just sat on the couch right next to each other and took turns giggling.  It was so cute.  That is Ava's cousin Sammy by the way.

After dinner we watched my parent's 60th birthday videos and the kids had a massage-train.

My immediate family exchanges gifts that night and my mom made pajama pants for every one of us.  That is over 20 pairs!  My kids love them - I will have to get pictures.  Christmas morning was nice.  I must have really enjoyed it because I only took 2 pictures!

Next we had brunch at Nanas and my camera died so I have no pictures :(  We ate a ton and the tamales this year are probably one of our best batches ever.

We celebrated Christmas with Mark's Dad on Monday.  It was really nice this year because all of our celebrations were at different times and we were able to spend time with all of our family and not feel rushed or hurried.  It is exhausting celebrating Christmas for 4 days straight but it is worth it to have quality time with everyone.

This is the face Ava makes when she knows you are taking her picture.

Our slim jim queen.

These are all of Tata Joe's grandkids - with one on the way!  Joey and Tessa told us that day that they were expecting.  I am so crazy excited and I am going to pray and pray until that baby arrives safely.  They have had a rough road.

It was so nice to have Maren (and her parents!) in town. 

We made it to the zoo on a beautiful warm day.

The monkey exhibit is always fun.  You get to walk through and they are just jumping around in the trees.

The holidays are always wrapped up with Dick and Peggy's New Year's Day Party.  Everyone looks forward to all the yummy food and one last mega-family gathering before life returns to normal. 

I am pretty sure Alexander and Paolo ate half a bowl of jelly beans!

These guys man the spiedie grill all day (Jay too!)

Sammy was the only one to get a smile out of Ava.  I can't get enough of these two!

Everyone takes turns skewering spiedies.  Somehow I got out of it this year :)

And of course, the end of the evening firework show.

My boys.

Cousin time - does it get any better?

I feel so blessed to be a part of this family.  We are increasingly spread out but I think we all genuinely look forward to time spent together year after year.  Cousins pick up where they left off, parents swap stories, lots of silliness, lots of laughing.  Truly a blessing and another wonderful holiday season.  Back to reality!