Merry Christmas!

We finished up all our Christmas projects last night! It was a bigger relief than I thought It would be. I knew I would be glad, but seriously I was so happy to have it out of the way. We are waiting for one more thing to arrive, and we're set.

I think that many people still have this whole week to prepare, but it's not so at the Scheutzow Ranch. We need to be ready by Thursday evening, so our time is a bit short.

This year, we have been focusing on NOT being stressed and rushed. It seems like that is a theme for our culture during what should be the happiest of times... holidays, any celebration: birthdays, new babies, parties.  Stress, stress, stress. I think that Merit being able to grasp what is going on has helped us re-evaluate our priorities. We want to be present with him. We want to be there and experience the joy and mostly experience him as he experiences this Christmas [and Thanksgiving, and future celebrations]. I do not want Merit to remember Christmas as the season his mom loses's her mind [completely].

So, how do we plan on doing it? Before Thanksgiving, I decided I was not going to rush around this year. We made lists, we made budgets, we made plans. We figured out exactly what we were getting [or making] for who and we slowly started working on it. We worked together. This was key. There was a project I thought I would end up doing myself, but now that it's all done, I'm pretty sure Josh did a lot more of the work on it. I am so, so thankful that he was willing to help and stepped up. We stayed focused. There were times we were both frustrated, but we remembered the point. We are really looking forward to giving. Maybe more than ever - because we are so planned out, we are really happy with our gifts. We didn't just wander around a store trying to find something that we could give to .... [so and so]. Which we have done before when we had no ideas and no plans.

Here we are, less than a week before Christmas, and the most prepared we have ever been. I am really proud of this - for us. This is NOT the norm for us. If you don't know, we are normally last minute. Like, the very last minute possible: stopping for gift cards on our way to events sometimes. It stresses me out to be that way, but it's just how it's been. Unintentionally.

So, in the next couple weeks, we will be [hopefully] indulging in the meaning of the words on those banners hung around our house: PEACE, JOY, LOVE. We may or may not be writing here over the next couple weeks as we take the time out to be completely present with each other, Merit, family. To rest, to love, to laugh and celebrate. We hope that you can do the same!

Merry Christmas!