Long Hollow

 

 

It's Christmas Eve. I spent most of the afternoon baking cookies and making fudge. It was my first attempt at baking gluten-free, and I have to admit, my Cyclops Cookies turned out as fabulous as ever. God bless who ever developed the 1-to-1 gluten-free flour! 

I finished up just in time to make it to the 5 pm Children's Mass. Even though my own kids are way past the Christmas Pageant age, I enjoy seeing all of the little ones dressed up as shepherds and angels, and hearing their whispered questions to their parents as Santa Claus makes his way up the center aisle carrying a present for the baby Jesus. 

Images of my own kids dressed as shepherds and angels flashed through my mind. I think I have a couple of dark, blurry photos of them in one of my zillion albums. Where did the time go?

But never mind wondering where the years went… tonight I'm wondering where December went! 

Earlier this month, my oldest turned 32. I'm suffering from self-inflicted mom-guilt for not writing a blog post in honor of it, as I did here and here and …. well, essentially every year since I started writing this blog. 

My Sunshine Boy was my first about him, I believe. 

He was traveling on his birthday this year, as has become the custom. In 2015 he and his wife were bungee-jumping in New Zealand. Last year, they were exploring Cuba. This year he turned 32 in London and traveled to Paris the next day.

They hired a photographer to meet them at the Eiffel Tower for a photo shoot one day, with a specific purpose in mind: 

 

 

Yes, that's right! This time next year, my son will be the father of a 6-month-old! In other words…. I'm going to be a grandmother!

They told me the night I landed after my Italy trip, making up some reason why they needed me to come by their house on my way home from the HOUSTON airport. It added an extra 30 minutes to my 3 hour night drive home after not sleeping for more than 24 hours, but hey, I'm a mom and wanted to see them anyway, so of course I went. And I was rewarded!

But I was also sworn to secrecy until they made the announcement themselves. And that's my excuse for not writing his birthday blog post until now. How could I, without blurting out the secret? 

The idea of being a grandmother overwhelms me. I only hope I can live up to the awesome grandmother-role-models that have gone before me, including my own mom. I have no doubt my son and his wife will be amazing parents, so I'll be able to spoil and indulge to my heart's content. But honestly, it's like thinking ahead to being a parent for the first time. I have no idea what's ahead of me, but I'm really looking forward to it anyway! 

There have been quite a few other sweets this month… gorgeous sunrises, heart rocks, new clients, fun parties… and today my friend Byron sent us this image he received from our hostess in Italy of "our" villa all decked out for Christmas. 

 

 

That window on the top left was my room. Sigh. 

Anyway, other December sweets included being chosen for our Keller Williams market center's Agent Leadership Council again, a week of morning walks with our grandpuppy Josie while her mama and daddy were traveling…

 

…and welcoming Remi, our Roomba, into the family. 

The puppies weren't quite sure of her at first…

 

 

We also had real snow this month! TG built this snowman in the dark while I held a flashlight…

 

I made it back to Austin's amazing Trail of Lights…

 

And some clients in Georgetown gave me a jar of honey from their backyard hive. Yum!

 

I can't forget one of the most important sweets of the month – Christmas. Celebrating the birth of Jesus. Of God becoming human in order to save us from our sins. Nothing else compares to that… even becoming a mother or grandmother. 

May all of you have a beautiful day tomorrow, filled with joy and peace and love, whether you're celebrating Christmas or not. I get to be with all of my kids, and will be able to let you know if the gluten-free flour works as well on fried chicken tenders as it does in cookies. I have a special family-favorite recipe I'll be trying out tomorrow. Wish me luck! 

And Merry Christmas!

 

 

May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope;
The spirit of Christmas which is peace;
The heart of Christmas which is love.

~Ada V. Hendricks