Holiday family sharing

I love the holidays, they used to be my favorite time of the year. Then I got married and found the stress that comes with them. It is so hard to spread out to see all the families, especially when one side is split and you must fit in two different parent events just for that side of the family!

You would think after 25 years of marriage it would be easier, but nope, in some ways it just keeps getting harder. Life gets busier, kids get older and start families of their own, jobs get more demanding. Finding a balance that makes everyone happy just seems to be impossible.

This holiday I have decided it is about making me happy, making sure I have the time with my children. Reminding myself that soon enough I will have to share them with other families, and trying to take the less stressful route of being in the moment with them now. I do feel bad that both of our extended families have less time with us, but I must grab this moment and enjoy it for as long as I can!

I am beyond thankful for the mom I have. My mom has made our holidays seem magical, so many small traditions she did with us as kids that we have carried over to our children. Teaching us the importance of family and Christmas. She tries to put very little pressure on us for the holidays, she might not be happy but is understanding when we can't make it on the holiday or if we don't make it to her house till late in the morning/afternoon on Christmas day. She is the first to remind us that we must share with others. She is always accommodating to all of us that have other family events we must attend. She understands that we also have family traditions that we need to honor, that we need to spend time with each other before the craziness of the family gathering is upon us. Sadly as a parent I recognize that it is no longer just about us when our children start families, it has to be about their family and traditions also. I am taking the example my mom has shown and will be happy with the time my children are willing to give to me. I hope that I will be as willing to work out the schedule to fit their families as my mom has been. Reminding myself that the holiday does not have to be celebrated on the actual day to feel the spirit of being together.

I am blessed that my oldest has chosen a girl that we adore. She is loving and accepting of all the crazy that goes on in our family. She always makes time to share with us and her family. I pray that my next two will choose as wisely in their significant others as my oldest has.

So off we go to make the rounds, try to make everyone happy, which is completely impossible. So this year it is about making my immediate family happy, enjoying my children and spending time with our extended families in the best way we can.

Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving and a Magical Christmas and New Year!

Mexican Cruise 2009!!!!

We finally made it on our cruise! I can now face writing about it without feeling the desire to sell all my belongings and cruise around the world, sigh. It was really such a great experience. Amazing to go with 46 family and friends on such a trip. My sister Kim is AWESOME!! She is the one who put this together. She contacted the travel agent and motivated us all to book our trip.

This is a trip that my children will remember for a lifetime. Our first visit to Mexico and they get to experience it with their Granparents, Aunts, Uncles, sibilings and cousins. I know I will not ever forget it. We are thinking that in 4+ years or so we are going to try and do it again.

Some of the highlights of our trip were:

In Puerta Vallarta Mariah and I got in the water and swam with the dolphins. WOW! about sums up how that felt. Weird and cool, the dolphin was amazing. So intense to be in the water and interact with this amazing creature. Mariah was so extremely happy about getting to do this. She was in heaven.

The boys and Melaina with about 20 others from our group did a zipline tour. They took a bus for about an hour ride out into the country side and had a blast. The video we got is amazing! On their way home they got to do a tour of a Tequila factory. All you ever wanted to know. Actually it sounded pretty interesting the facts they could tell us when they got back. You can tell I was not on the tour because someone (DAD!) let Colton try a shot of tequila. The good news is he was disgusted by it and sadly (not really sad at all!) he puked it back up. Hopefully that will deter him from trying alcohol until he is at least 30 (wink!). (Here is the zipline group.)

Mazatlan was fun, Darrel, Colton and Mariah decided to stay on the boat, they were having a good time! So Anthony, Melaina and I went shopping with a bunch of our group. It was interesting. I was really disturbed by the way the poor were just lined down their sidewalks by the market. It was so hard not to give everyone of them my money. Our driver was amazing and took us all over the city. I mentioned in an earlier post about seeing the poorer districts, and how it made me appreciate all that I have. Of course it would not be a George family vacation without somebody being injured and a hospital trip at least discussed! This time it was Steve, he stepped on something on the beach and sliced the callus off the front ball of his foot. It was just disgusting! On top of that there was talk of cutting the bleeding flap of skin off. GROSS, and STOP!!!! Luckily we didn't have to body tackle anyone and they all stepped back and decided to leave it and let it heal itself. The trip to the hospital in a foreign country was avoided. THANK YOU GOD!!!

Our last stop was Cabo and I am in loooooove with it!! It was beautiful the small amount of time we got to spend there. Kim, Jessica, Mrs Cho, Jackson, Mariah and I did a glass bottom boat tour. It was very cool. The beaches are gorgeous. I want to go back here!

The boat was amazing. The food outrageous! The formal dinner was very cool. The kids tried all kinds of foods they would never really get a chance at. They all tried the escargot. Colton actually liked it allot. Mariah, Darrel and Anthony not so much. The kids each got to have lobster for dinner and Mariah tried the veal (neither of us enjoyed it, but Aaron thought it was great! Our waiters were awesome! Here is Colton and Mariah dancing with them, so cute!!!

I have added my pictures to my digital picture frame in my office so I can look at them everyday. I loved the cruise, but a little disappointed not to spend more time in each city. I can't wait for 4 years to go by so we can all do it again!!!!!!!