Puke.

Spencer has thrown up three times and counting since he got home from school. Gary has cleaned it off the carpet a couple of times and now he's gone to bed accompanied by a bowl. Looks like he'll be home tomorrow. Trying to keep him away from Oliver will be the trick. The last thing I feel like dealing with is a throwing up baby.

1. I am thankful for a quiet house by 7.30pm. This normally happens most nights and when it doesn't happen I miss it. With a full day every day I need the time to re-charge and feel able to be that home maker, mother, and wife my family have come to expect. The person that always has meals planned and prepared at the right time, makes sure everyone always has clean clothes in their closets, makes sure no one has to tolerate a dirty toilet, listens and solves all problems, and is always fun to spend time with. Perhaps that homemaker, mother, and wife is a little on the idealized side but that's what I strive for and feel like it's within my grasp as long as I have time to be just Sarah. Tonight I'm fighting a headache and craving chocolate but by the time 11pm rolls around and I have had time to read, watched a bit of tv, had some chocolate, and maybe gone in the hot tub I'll feel as close to Martha Stewart as is humanly possible.

2. I am thankful for a stronger understanding of what my parents did for me and my siblings and sacrificed for us. When I was a child and I asked my Dad what he wanted for Christmas, he would say "peace and quiet". I always thought he was a grump when he said that but I had no idea what three noisy children were really like. Yet despite that craving for peace, we were allowed to be ourselves and my Dad spent coutless hours driving us around to all our social events when I'm sure he would much rather have been sitting at home by the fire reading a bible commentary. He always listened to my often hysterical teenage problems and provided me with just what I needed to hear. My mother and my father worked so hard to give us the things we wanted and I'm sure I never showed them the gratitude I should have. I hope that I will always express those feelings now I am an adult. If my children feel the same way about me as I do about my parents then I will have succeeded.

3. I am thankful to have tracked down a book I once had and somehow lost. I have been wanting to make an advent calendar for my kids, one that's a touch more exciting than the chocolate filled ones and this book had a pattern in it to make one. I was on Amazon last night and I found a copy. I can't wait to get started on the project even though I probably won't get it done for this year.

4. I am thankful for a garage that can fit our vehicles AND store all our stuff. Not having to scrape iced over windows or go out in snow to warm up the car is such a blessing.

5. I am thankful that my kids will be as excited about their $10 stockings as anything else they might get this Christmas.