Why does my Christmas feel like Lent? And praise God, I will not be moving via donkey

Well, that didn't go as planned.

I saved the entire Christmas dinner, a couple of gifts, and some stocking stuffers shop, until three days before Christmas. On the third day before Christmas there was freezing rain, keeping me off of the roads. And then I threw up.

FOR FIVE HOURS.

I haven't slept on the bathroom floor since college.

And then I had a fever. On Christmas Eve.

So my beloved husband did the Christmas dinner shop for me, bless his heart because the man has had sciatica and hasn't been able to walk for a month. But he did his best. He got everything I would have sort have gotten. The problem with giving a man my list is that I tend to remember what is NOT on my list only when I see it. So there was no cream for coffee and no zip lock baggies for left overs and no poinsettia centerpiece. No worries. The baby Jesus was still born despite no centerpiece.

One kid might have only gotten an Old Spice spray deodorant and chocolate in his stocking but gotta say he took it in stride. And another kid might have been quiet and polite enough to say absolutely nothing and just assume that "Santa forgot" some stuff under the tree.

And I took zero pictures. Not one.

Thankfully, today I am feeling a whole lot better, which is a good thing considering that my husband caught what I had and is out for the count and I need to care for him.

And quite possibly worst of all? I had a frozen gluten free burrito (my favorite) with green salsa (my other favorite) some tortilla chips (an all time favorite) and a cup of coffee (only essential to living) just moments before I got sick. So guess what I will never have again....

Is it me, or does this Christmas Season feel an awful lot like Lent?

So....safe to say, and we all know it but it is still so hard to accept it, that we really are not in control of anything. We can plan all we want, but the good Lord has plans of His own, and I hear they are for GOOD.....and so I am holding on tight to that.

It might be a little quiet around here for the next week as we all try hard to recover and pack up our home and move. Or maybe it won't. I know not to plan on anything.

No. Christmas this year was not how I planned. AT. ALL. But Mary didn't plan Christmas. She pondered Christmas. And she had to move homes days after Christmas, as well....just like me. Only she moved on a donkey. In the middle of the night. While male children under the age of two were being slaughtered as she tried to hide and save her newborn baby boy. So, ya know...always good to think about that, slap on a smile and carry on.

Merry Christmas, sweet friends. Prayers for a full and grateful heart no matter what your plans. May you keep your eyes up, and your dinner down!