My children were off for two weeks for the Christmas holidays.  The great thing was that this year I was able to be home with my children for the two week break!  While I love my job, I love my children more and looked forward to the time at home with them.

We did a lot of talking, connecting, reading, watching movies, and sleeping in!  My husband was able to take off a good bit of time with us as well, although not the entire two weeks.  We went horseback riding every chance we could when there was good weather.  We went riding on the property behind ours (33 acres – with the owner’s permission), down the dirt roads where my parents live out in the country, as well as going to a 2100 acre forest dedicated for equestrian usage, and also rode our horses on the beach twice!  It was great fun!

We built a fire and roasted marsh mellows while saying goodbye to things of the past that were weighing us down by tossing pieces of paper into the fire with those things that we needed to let go of once and for all.  That was freeing!

My family and I spent quality time together, which we always love.

We gathered with other family members during the holiday season as well as our friend from Illinois that visited at the beginning of the month to kick the Christmas season off right.

Lots of Christmas songs were heard and sung as we remembered the real reason for the season – the birth of Christ, our Lord!

Then as the Christmas activities came to an end, we ushered in a brand spanking new year!  Woo Hoo!!   Good riddance to 2014 – and a big ole Southern howdy and welcome to 2015!  We look forward to many good times and wonderful memories that will be made this year.

And now we sit here preparing for the return to school and work.  My daughters have already groaned a few times, but now we return to our regularly scheduled program.

It is nice to have a break, but we do need to return to a normal routine.  And so, we shall, but we will go back to school and work feeling refreshed and renewed as we prepare for great things to come!