The Diener Five: Christmas Time is Here

I'm grateful that Christmas is on its way again. I don't know if I've looked forward to a Christmas this much in a long time. I planned ahead, made sure I got a lot of the things that required too much attention out of the way. Turned down some opportunities. And now, I am taking the deep breath I've needed. I feel like I can be the voice of encouragement this time, instead of needing the encouragement. It's a good place to be in.

Things around us are still hard, but in our little bubble of five, plus the cat and dog, we're okay. We're healthy, we're together, and we have what we need (more than we need).

This is year is fun with the kids, too. All three are in that strange place in life where they are equally eager for Santa's arrival as they are to celebrate baby Jesus's birthday. This year we even have some extra special help from a little elf named Alfie. You can see his pictures on Pinterest.

I'm taking a break from Facebook during December but figured I could post in our very sporadic blog. As you can see- I *decorated* the blog. And if you're curious what else I'm up to- you can check out a blog called Bump In The Night- it's at dldiener.com/bumpinthenight. It's a different kind of blog. It won't be for everyone, but I think some will find it a good thing.

Our Christmas letter is more of a note, so we won't be posting that this year either. Sorry. Someday I'll do nice long letters again.

Danny is getting excited about skiing with Dylan this winter- he learned last winter that Dylan is an excellent skiier. He's also hoping to take the girls out for their first (very introductory) lessons.

I plan on using this winter to finish the novel I started in November (well, 3 chapters were done before that). It's a story about the plan B's we have for our lives. When the worst happens, the unimaginable- there's that little voice at the back of our heads that says-- if that happened, I'd do this. It's just a keep-you-from-slipping-into-the-abyss thing. But my main character acts on it, and when she does, she realizes that life is every bit as complicated and rewarding as it was before she enacted her escape-from-grief plan. That's not my official summary by the way. That'd be terrible, all those hyphens.

These days the kids are hitting a stride of playing together well. Sure, there are the intermittent squabbles but for the most part, they are wanting to play together. They're also helping more with things around the house. Maybe not consistently or with great finesse but by golly, they're helping and every day (especially at meal time) they are scanning the Helper Chart to see what their job is.

That's probably a big enough peek into our world for now. Congrats if you made it to the end without a yawn. :)