The holiday I didn't ask for

The week before Thanksgiving, our house flooded. With raw sewage. Over $11k of damage. (We heart Mercury Insurance.)

Let's see, what else has happened since then?

• A repeat flood before the property management took any action
• Camped in our house for two weeks with no toilet and no water down the drains (hooray for being able to use the tap for drinking water and cooking!)
• Got Nate's car back from body shop sans rear-end collision (over $11k damage there, too)
• Nate's car went to the dealer to fix a battery issue (another $1k! But it's the first thing it's needed in 100k miles, so we are only milding whining on that one)
• Nate was interviewing for a new job (which he landed, hooray!)
• I've been (attempting) training for a half marathon
• We all got sick
• Thanksgiving somewhere in there
• Nate's debut solo album CD release show
• Eden's Christmas program
• BUSY work season, for both of us
• Water heater is now leaking...

I had a small nervous breakdown last night. It seemed like every part of my life -- marriage, finances, parenting, work, house, holidays -- was in shambles. Nothing this season was as I had planned, or expected. And none of it our fault! I felt so overwhelmed.

The quiet, unhurried, uncomplicated holiday season I was looking forward to -- a memory-making season -- was torn out of my grasp. The new holiday season I was given was certainly NOT what I wanted, and most definitely NOT what I had asked for. But it was handed to me, with all of it's decisions, harried agendas, discomfort and mayhem.

A memory-making season, no doubt.

I still feel overwhelmed. But then I look at these:

And the list doesn't seem quite so important.

...Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night...