All I want for Christmas...

As I said before, there will be many Christmas posts. This isn't necessarily a Christmas post per se, but since it is Christmas time, that is what we will call it.

I am sitting here in my sunny kitchen on a lovely 72 degree San Diego December day. I do love where I live, I do. While snow would be ever so lovely, being able to take my kids to a playground any day of the year really does make this mommy very happy. I know if I lived somewhere else I would adjust, find things to do with the kids, but for now I am happy to be here.

The kids are trouble today. After an hour of struggling to get them down for naps (all 3 that is, usually the baby is asleep lickity split) I did some cleaning and now I am relaxing by writing our Christmas letter and shopping online for a few more gifts. This time of year always brings to mind family and friends who we don't get to see very often. Of course the dream is to have all your loved ones close, right? In theory. But the more I think about it the more I realize that the dream isn't nearly as great as the reality. Is the ideal really to try and gel everyone into the same mold? I don't think so. Of course years ago people just didn't travel all that far from home, that is why families stayed close. Is this the demise of our culture? I don't think so. At least not from my perspective. I love that my children get to visit grandm and grandpa in Minnesota. I love that I get to visit Minnesota. I love that they get to go fishing with grandma in any number of lakes near their home. I love that they get to rake leaves and play in the snow and see horses down the street. Those are things they will never get to experience here. It makes the journey to see family more than just a trip, it makes it an adventure, one they talk about for weeks after returning home. I love that when we visit Joe's family in Arizona there are cactus and mountains. Grandma Nonna always wants to go bowling, and so we do. In Bakersfield grandma and grandpa have a pool and spa and a big back yard where the kids can run for hours! Imagine trying to mesh all of this into one place. It just wouldn't work. That place would lose so much of the magic that the individual places hold. There would be none of the excitement and anticipation we all feel when getting ready to visit someone. Whether it is because we get to fly on a plane or ride in the car and watch movies on the DVD player (something that only happens on long car rides). Whatever the case may be, we have come to appreciate our family much more because seeing them is such a gift.