Monday, December 31, 2012

It's not even over, but it will be soon....

 
There's always a bit of a let down and a glimpse of depression when Christmas is over.  The month of December is so much fun, building up to Christmas.  It's all the preparing and hustle and bustle that's the real excitement of the holidays and when Christmas mornging rolls around....it is gone in a flash.  Then you're left with wrapping paper to clean up, too much candy to eat and upcoming resolutions to make.  However....not in our family!  We still have one more "holiday" event to look forward to every year!  New Year's Eve at my sister's house!  Ginger, my sister and Kevin, my brother-in-law, host a very special, family New Years Eve dinner at their house every year.  We do a fun "white elephant" gift exchange and they prepare a huge "Thanksgiving like" feast!  We eat, play card games, charades and toast with sparkling cider at midnight!   It's so much fun and a great way to end the year.  So, at the moment when we know Christmas has, once again, come and gone....we get to immediately look forward to New Year's Eve at the Beaman's! 

Sunday, December 30, 2012

I Am Proud To Know You.....

We all lost an incredible man just 11 days before Christmas.   He entered my life 11 years ago, and I haven't been the same since.  There's some people that just strike it lucky with wonderful in laws...and I am among those few.  My father in law, Bob, was not only an amazing father in law....but his presence in my life changed me forever. 

Other than my own father, never have I known such a good man.  Bob was passionate, talented, kind hearted, warm, loving and most of all....selfless.  He truly loved his family and I am lucky enough to count myself as part of his family.  His loyalty and commitment to everyone he loved made everyone around him feel calm, happy and at peace. 

Bob helped me through some awful, tough times in my life, when nobody else seemed to know what else to say.  He understood my pain and showed me that time heals and faith bring peace.  He helped me so much and provided comfort in a time when the world seemed impossible to face.  The good times and memories we shared will forever be in my heart and I will always treasure them.

Before Bob passed, I wrote him a letter....and though I won't disclose all of what the letter said...I want to share part of it with you all.  Every year, David and I bought Bob, the "You Might Be a Redneck" desk calendar.  It was a tradition...and he loved it.  That calendar continued to tickle him, year after year...and though he never wanted Christmas presents....I know he looked forward to that one every year.   In the letter I told him that he is who he is and nobody can alter or change him.  If he's a redneck, he's a redneck. :)  But, most of all, he was a loving, caring man that was so in love with David's mom, Sonna.  I've never seen a man so crazy about anyone before in my life.  (I told him I was kind of envious of their mushy, gushy relationship!) Haha...just kidding, but they were pretty darn cute. 

Just the core of who is was and will forever live on to be in our hearts, is enough to make all of us extra thankful that, not only do we have proof that such a wonderful kind of person can exist in this world, but that we were lucky enough to have him in our lives.  I'm so proud to call him my father in law...and so honored to be his daughter in law. 

Friday, December 28, 2012

Oh the Days Go By So Fast....

Oh how I wish I had more time to blog.  I really love it.  There's so much to write about and so much I want to share and remember.  Hopefully, now with the busy holidays coming to an end, I will have lots more time to blog, blog, blog! 

I have been spending some of my time on my other blog, Trapeze Paper Crafts.  It's been a lot of fun crafting and making videos for my crafty YouTube channel.  I made several homeade gifts for Christmas this year and I will be posting pictures on my other blog very soon. 

So, I am very happy to report that I am home in Arizona!  Don't get me wrong, San Francisco was a lovely, artistic city and I was very intrigued by it....but I am so glad to be home!  We made it on time for Thanksgiving and I feel like it's been go, go, go ever since!  I always "overdo" the holidays.  There just aren't enough hours in the day to buy gifts, make gifts, decorate, clean, wrap, cook, bake, run a cupcake business, work 40 hours a week at my real job, plus do the things I WANT to do like spend time with my family, play with my nephew, watch movies with my husband, read a book...and blog!  I say every year that I am going to keep it simple, so I can actually enjoy the holidays.  You know, put the tree up, but don't cover every corner of my house with plaid and peppermint.  Bake, but don't take 17 cupcake orders in a period of 1 week.  Buy and wrap gifts, but don't use a different wrapping paper for each gift, don't start the shopping on December 22nd and don't go overboard!  Maybe handmake something, but don't be so unorganized that it literally looks like a tornado hit your craft room. 
Keep it simple!

It was stressful all the way up to the end of Christmas Eve, but I have to say that Christmas Day was wonderful.  It's been a very different year.  A dear, dear, incredible man in our lives passed away  a couple weeks ago....my father-in-law, Bob.  He was like nobody I have every known before.  I will be writing a separate post about him soon.  He was so loved and will be dearly missed forever.  So, you see, with all that's gone on this year...I can really say that I'm glad this year is almost over!   I will be honest...I have struggled this year with things that were just thrown at me and to which I had no power over whatsover.  I am hoping that the new year will bring change and a fresh start.  The good things are a constant and those are the people in my life that make life worth living...so those can and will stay the same....but for everything else....change is necessary.  I will explain more about that in a separate blog post, too!

I'll leave you, for now, with this significant lyric...

"There's reason to believe, maybe this year will be better than the last..."

And it will be!