Three weeks

The past three plus weeks have been but a blur. With M able to get away to N.Y. to spend time with her sister P before her untimely passing. I can't really relate it all except that the adage of "what is important will get done" is holding very true.

With a quick trip to N.Y. for the celebration of P's life and a day of rest afterward, I came back to an empty house as M and the kids stayed with family for Thanksgiving day. Other than work, I didn't have much to do (in a sense) so my major focus was to get the house ready for Christmas. I knew that regardless of recent events, that we would celebrate the season and hope to bud some interest of it into E and maybe MHM.

The tree and village were up for their arrival the day after Turkeyday. Though that was a travel day, E showed great joy at the tree and I was sure that decorating would also be a great hit. E was allowed to help with the decoration and we placed several kid friendly items about to make her feel as though she had some freedom to enjoy all the stuff. So far, her and MHM are keeping a healthy respect for the "pretties" and everything is good. I have now finished the exterior illumination (of which I think was easy and looks great) and now, I hope to be able to slow down even another notch as I get ready to finish out the last part of the year with an extended Christmas season.

I hope M can get some time to relax and enjoy our kids and also reflect on happier times with her family and keep as many memories alive as possible. We will all miss Aunt P and Grandpa O but making sure we remember the meatballs he made and way P loved ALL of Christmas will hopefully keep us going so we can rejoice with them.