blessed beyond measure

Our Christmas Day celebration was as magical and wonderful as ever. The breakfast table was crammed full as we gathered around, our usual crew plus Meemaw Gloria this year. I cherish this, a meal with my entire sweet family, all of us together. The main event. Followed, of course, by the boys' main event. All of us spoiled each other rotten with a mountain of gifts. Because Christmas just makes you want to give. It was a great day, surrounded by the warm embrace of kith and kin.

The Christmas post is coming, y'all, I promise. As is the Aden basketball post. January is one of our more hectic months in this family. Last week between just Brandon and Aden we had four games, and practices every day there wasn't a game. Excuses, excuses. So a very standard camera dump will need to fill the void. On New Year's Eve we gathered with the tribe, ate for about six hours straight, roared with laughter, and didn't even make it halfway through a round of Phase 10. We hardly saw our littles until about forty seconds to midnight, where they glued their eyes to the ball drop and then celebrated with gusto as 2019 greeted us. A blast as always, and the perfect way to ring in a new year. It's eat, sleep, breathe basketball these days. Brandon's team is doing well. They hosted an induction ceremony for the school's athletic hall of fame, with an impressive lineup cheered on by a huge crowd. I love the fan life, y'all. Even though ever...

My whole one-word campaign has been going on now for several years. Its effectiveness is debatable. Sometimes it keeps me quite focused and helps me to strive toward something better. And sometimes, well, it doesn't. This has nothing to do with the word in itself. But everything to do with me. This year's word was remember , born of my gratitude over being set free from the various emotional prisons I had stumbled into through much of 2017. I didn't keep up my end of the deal this year, struggling throughout with my weight and my relationship with Trey, both sort of vicious cycles that, from time to time, completely took over my mind. In all this, I have gone through every motion a good Christian girl should, all the while not where God wants me to be. Of course I know He is always there. But maybe I've forgotten how to take His hand, or even that I am supposed to. And while we're on the subject of forgetting, it was long about August, sitting in Sunday s...