A Breath of Fresh Air

The last few months around here have been.....stressful, anxiety-inducing, painful, awkward and exhausting - almost suffocatingly so.

In the middle of a meltdown last week I told Josh that this was probably going to be the worst Christmas of my life. He took that to mean he should tell me stories about anything that ever went wrong on Christmas in his life. ("There was this one time that time when Dad said if we couldn't stop fighting nobody was going to open presents and he TOOK. THEM. AWAY!!" [insert horrific gasp here]) He was appalled when I told him this Christmas put that Christmas to shame because a completely sucky life is significantly more depressing than having to wait to open your presents.

Maybe my low expectations are the reason that the last 2 days have felt like a very refreshing breathe of fresh air, it felt like everything that could possibly go right did, and it felt like all the aspects of our completely sucky life just vanished for a little while.

We gave (mostly) great gifts, we received more than we could ever dream of needing, and most importantly we played with our family and did nothing but make wonderful memories. Somehow everything was just plain beautiful.

On our way home tonight I asked Josh what his favorite part of Christmas was. He said something about being happy and what a relief that was. And I had to agree. These 48 hours have been exactly the calming peaceful break from reality that I have so desperately wanted. They have been a breath of fresh air.

Here's hoping I don't have to wait another year to feel like my lungs are full again.