Hello Monday!

 

Happy Monday, friends! I hope you had a great weekend! I can't wait to hear from you at the end of today's post. I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for today's blog post. I'll jump right in, starting with last Tuesday.  

With my sons all in town, we did a lot of random hanging out each night. Some nights it was the five of us, other nights it was four of us; I tried to be as flexible as possible, and I never strayed too far from home in case they wanted to do something. On this night, they all ended up at a local place here in town, The Orleans (used to be Rockhouse). I love that they decorated for Christmas! Marilyn met me there, and we had a blast hanging out with the young crowd. She may or may not have danced with this Santa Claus. 🤣 It actually turns out that this was the first night of the next four that I would end up here with my sons; I've learned that when they invite me to do something, I will always say yes. 

Another thing I did earlier that day was meet up with Marilyn and her friend Natalie for lunch at Salad Station. My favorite! This was a fun lunch, and Natalie is now my friend as well. It's kind of funny that we're all divorced...not funny ha ha, but funny in the ironic way. I seem to be growing my collection of friends who are the same as me, and I am grateful for this. 

Wednesday was kind of a chill day. I did a few things around the house and enjoyed Noah being close by. I didn't have anything to do all that day until Chris came over and we met my sons at church for the candlelight service. 

I didn't do this last year, and truthfully, I'm not sure I'll do it again next year. It was a little too painful for me, and it's one of those things that I need to just chalk up to being a part of my past life BD (before divorce). Does that make sense? I do think that there are some things that I need to let go of, and this is at the top of the list. I don't mean to be maudlin here again, but this Christmas had me feeling all of the things this year. Some of it I expected, some took me by surprise. 

After the service, everyone came back to my house for snacks. Everyone was my four guys, Chris, Mom, Bill, and Trish. They didn't stay long; they were gone by six thirty. I ended up back at Orleans with Chris and the boys afterward at some point. Marilyn stopped by with her girls when her presence was requested by their friend Nick, but they didn't stay long. 

Chris went home after this, and the boys plus a friend all ended up back here. We had the most fun night once they got here; we listened to music and just enjoyed each other's company. We laughed, we sang, we ate more, we danced a little...it was one of those magical nights when they were all here under my roof and all was right in my world. It's my one night a year! We didn't go to bed until almost one. 🤣

We woke up around eight thirty Christmas morning; Drew woke me up with a text. I joined him downstairs for coffee, and then we just sat and talked for a bit before waking the others. 

You have no idea how happy it makes me seeing all of their vehicles parked in my driveway! Or near my driveway, in Noah's case. We opened gifts and laughed and snacked until we made our way to my mom's for lunch. It was a fun and full day.

These are the pictures I have from that day, plus some outtakes that Chris and Noah had fun with. 🤣

I spent a lot of time on Friday doing this: reading on the couch. I didn't do much that day at all, other than this. I went to Orleans again to hang out for a little while when they asked me to come up there again, but I was only there for about an hour. Saturday started off with more of the same, but I left to go get my nails done at some point. 

Chris came over and we hung out the rest of the day, and we had our first adventure together that could have made us or broken us. Noah's dog Rocket escaped from my house into the wild, also known as the surrounding neighborhood. It happened as fast as lightning, and dang can that dog run. This was horrifying! He could have gone anywhere so easily, but after twenty minutes of driving, Chris spotted him a couple of streets over. We basically just kept following him until he was so tired that he almost gave up; Chris was able to corner him at a fenced in yard and carried him back to my car as Noah, Graham, and their dad was turning into my neighborhood. Noah had been with him, and he was coming as backup if they needed. It was a little awkward with him seeing me with Chris driving my car as we pulled back into my driveway, but it is what it is. 

New nails! I got Funny Bunny by OPI with chrome over the top. I do this once a year; last year was the first time when I had a gift card. I did the same this year since I had Christmas money. After lunch, Chris and I went into Memphis for a visit to my favorite place, Novel. I took a bathroom selfie since I was dressed for the very warm weather. I didn't buy anything, but I also didn't browse for as long as I'd liked. It's hard to be in a bookstore with someone who doesn't share my love of books. 

And that was it for my weekend. Noah left on Sunday morning to go back to McKinney, and his final parting gift to me was the stomach virus he had on Friday. I came down with it in the middle of the night early Sunday morning, then Chris had it by eleven a.m. on Sunday at his house. I'm glad to be feeling better now, but I'm spending today on my couch recovering. I'll see you back here tomorrow, friends! Love to all. 

Jenn