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Since we're all based in Briarsville, we get to celebrate everything together and we alternate houses. This year Belle and her husband got Christmas, Eric and his wife are doing Thanksgiving, my father and stepmom are doing New Year's Eve and my hubby and I took care of Halloween.
Had someone even attempted to joke I would come to love the holiday so much after holding a grudge against it for seven years, I would have laughed them out of the room, but life changes with every breath we take, and four Halloweens ago mine changed for the better.
For one thing, I'm so happy and in love with my husband that we're told it's disgusting. We can't keep our hands off each other and we can hardly go half a day apart without feeling actual pangs.
My life is so joyful and rich, no amount of money could buy what we have.
My panic attacks are a thing of the past. I haven't had one since before I got pregnant with the twins. I still have the occasional nightmares, but they are starting to dwindle and when I do have them, they aren't full-on night-terrors like they used to be before Phillip and I found our way back to each other.
And I sleep!
Oh my God, do I sleep!
I take naps in the afternoon and sleep full nights and all it takes is my husband tiring me out with some hard and fast loving.
Our house is filled to the brim with my herbal teas and Yankees and we have an essential oil diffuser in every room, but that's just because I'm crazy about these things and could never give them up. My husband's perfect and he always says he doesn't care if our house smells 'fancy' all the time, he just needs me to be in it and he's good to go.
I'm mommy to two adorable, vivacious, little hurricanes that can throw any places into utter chaos with a blink of their eyes and a twitch of their noses. They are too funny for words and they are such good little babies, already little bookworms in the making thanks to their aunt Belle and all the 'magic trips' they take with her at the local library. They're as protective of me as their daddy is, which is too freaking cute, and their little faces are carbon copies of Phillip's, minus that eternal sexy stubble of his, but they have my eyes and most of my annoying habits. I couldn't be prouder.
Phillip and I have that type of love that's been tested and still holds true. We only have eyes for each other and I'm pretty sure we'll die on the same day when it's time, hopefully when we're old and grey and have had a chance to meet the people our children will build their lives with and their kids.
That's the only wish I have.
Our lives are blissfully imperfect and I wouldn't change a single thing.
So, now that Phillip and I are no longer allergic to Halloween, we actually enjoy every step of the setup that makes the holiday so special. Over the years, we have rediscovered a lot of family traditions that grief had made us leave behind and we've also each of us added new ones to them, making the months between October and December the most magical thing ever and not even just for our children.
One of those traditions that actually comes from Belle's family is currently taking place in our living room right now.
Every single available surface in our very large open space is covered in sleeping kids.
I smile down at my nieces and nephews.
All the children have been playing and running around, laughing and screaming their little hearts out on too much sugar for hours and hours and now they are conked out big time.
The party's been over for about an hour.
The adults of the family are all sitting on the patio that runs around our home. We lit a small fire in the pit in our garden and everybody's out there trading funny stories, drinking hot cinnamon toddies and mulled wine, and eating pumpkin-spice cookie-sandwiches filled with vanilla marshmallow cream. A recipe that used to be a favorite of Flora while we were growing up and that Belle has perfected over the years.
I sigh. Just another picture of my babies and all the kids and then I'll wipe their faces and hands clean and go sit with the rest of the gang.
I snap a picture of Henry and Flynn cuddled together and surrounded by their cousins and then I take a panoramic photo of the messy room. Pillows, teddy bears, blankets, sleeping bags, and napping children all over the place.
So cute!
I'm going to make something special with this pic.
Maybe it could be a calendar background or we could use it for Christmas cards?
I'll have to brainstorm with Bianca, my stepmom, and the other girls.
I snap a few more shots and I take a video while I'm at it and then I start to turn around to go get some baby wipes.
Big, warm hands stop me in place as long arms surround my waist and I'm pulled against a solid chest I know only too well.
My husband nuzzles my neck, his hot breath making me shiver a little. "Hey, little doll."
I look to the side, then backward and crane my neck up until my eyes meet his. "Hey, baby."
