Like many others this holiday season, I had a very busy weekend! I really didn’t start feeling human again with very few aches, pains, and other major leftover CAKE symptoms until Sunday. Fortunately, that’s when the parties started.

Sunday night we visited with 20 friends and family for Honey’s birthday at the Rio. It felt wonderful to visit with so many people I cherish in my life for a while. Some of our oldest “internet friends” stopped by as they were in town all the way from Kansas for the holidays! I got to hold the fresh baby! YAY! I drank soda (instead of margaritas), ate fajitas (instead of green chili burritos), and went home early (instead of staying until all hours of the night). But I had a great time and Honey had a fabulous birthday!

On Monday, I cleaned out my purple room and rearranged some of the furniture. I think I overdid it but when it was all done, I got to take a nap in my room! Horray! That was Christmas Eve so in the evening we (me, Honey and dad) went to the in-laws’ for our traditional shrimp dinner. Afterwards, dad slept over at our house and we did our gift exchange and visited a while.

Christmas morning we packed up and trekked through the snowstorm back to the in-laws’ for traditional Christmas morning gift-opening and breakfast. BIG NEWS! My sister-in-law Lindsay got ENGAGED Christmas eve to the wonderful guy she’s been dating for three years! SO EXCITING! The ring is gorgeous and she is a glowing, giddy bride-to-be now! I’m stoked to “Play Wedding Planning” with her!

Other BIG NEWS! Honey and I are going to China in August!!! Some of you may remember how we went to Vancouver last summer to go salmon fishing with a big chunk of Honey’s family (uncle, aunt and cousins). Well, they do a big family trip like that every summer and we get to go on the next one to China!!!! The whole trip is planned out with a tour guide, hotel stays, etc. We don’t have to do a thing but show up and have fun! I am eccstatic and overwhelmed with the blessings of my family.

By noon yesterday, my body was fed up with all the partying and started hurting, despite the pain meds. So we headed home to play with our new toys from Christmas and I spent the rest of the day on the couch. But as I lay on the couch yesterday, listening to Honey outside snowblowing the foot of snow a second time, I suddenly felt a strong sense of pure peace and joy - for the first time in several months. Since Honey and I got married, I’ve regularly felt blessed, content and sheer happiness in our life together, our individual goals and achievements and plans for the future. But things have felt so broken, black and painful since September (getting sick, the miscarriage and unexpectedly losing my mother), I haven’t felt that sense of deep rooted joy for a long time. Until last night. I feel grateful for my health (the healthy part of it, anyway!), my wonderful family (my immediate as well as my in-laws), my brave, strong and handsome husband, my silly and adorable dogs and cats, my warm (though messy) and cozy home, my opportunities for the future and my feeling that my mother is still with me in my heart every day. I am truly blessed.

Today will be spent RESTING some more. I still need to recover my strength from the busy weekend.

I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday weekend and shared good times with family and friends alike!