Whew! Busy Holidays, History repeats itself?

Well, it has been quite a while since my last post. We got through Christmas! It was hectic! I usually have the house dressed to the nines for the holidays around my birthday weekend (December 10), but due the the party schedule and the unfortunate death of my boss' brother, I was very needed at work and could not take the days of vacation I had planned to clean and decorate the house. So, I rearranged my schedule and got it all done very late in the game. Then I was planning on finishing the Christmas shopping with my bonus, but again, due to the death of boss' brother, it didn't come as early as I had hoped. So, I was very last minute and disorganized this year. It all turned out fine, however. The house was beautiful and all the shopping got done and all the presents got wrapped and put under the tree in time for St. Nick to add his morsals to the piles. Even though Dean got the biggest present (a 20" tv/dvd player for the camper), Jordan's pile was definitely the biggest! Even though he is not quite one year old yet (Jan. 5 is his b-day), and he didn't quite grasp the whole concept yet of Santa coming and opening the presents, he did realize a little later that he had all these neat new toys to play with! Dean and I kept him till today. I just kept him here when his Mom and Dad left on Christmas night. It was fun playing with him and watching him learn and explore! Very cool! We did not however get to see my brother and sister in law yet this holiday season. Her mother is a nursing home/hospital/nursing home/hospital and just keeps going back and forth. They seem to have finally figured out that she has some bowel blockage and was supposed to have surgery yesterday, but my brother has not called me with the results of that yet. Wasn't it not long ago (9 years ago, Christmas Eve) that MY mother started her horrific journey in our medical facility? I cannot believe that my dad is gone 8 years (October) and it will be 8 years that Mom is gone on Jan. 14. History does repeat itself to some extent........