Our Crazy, Little December to Remember

Hold on, let me settle in with my cup of tea in the sweetest little big mug from the sweetest friend turned photo client.  Exhibit A.Let me sit here, take a deep breath, and forget about the harsh reminders that are sprawled across our entire home shouting out that the Holiday season is over.  Yup.  Finite.  Done.  Terminado.

Let me sit here and forget that it’s already January 4 and the red holiday cups at Starbucks are gone (along with the expiring gingerbread syrup that makes everything taste and smell like a childhood Christmas.)

Let me sit here and reflect on all that December was: how one moment we were begging for it to be over and the next we were grasping for it like Mufasa in The Lion King before he fell to his heart wrenching death… maybe that’s a bit dramatic.  But shoot-if December 2016 didn’t sum up our roller coaster life as “dramatic,” I don’t know what else or who else wouldn’t.

I’m not sure if it was the “Dr. Paullin, your biopsy results came back revealing that you have a highly malignant, metastatic mass,” or the “Mrs. Paullin, Mr. Paullin, Mrs. Bressler– He’s out of surgery (a 4.5 hour one I might add).  I couldn’t be more pleased with how it went.  He passed with flying colors.  Have a Merry Christmas…”

I’m not sure if it was the “Sweetie, where’s the macbook” or the “Mrs. Bressler, you have a ticket for a direct flight to Dallas.”

I’m not sure if it was the “Trey, I can’t do this?!  I want my clients to have the most beautiful photos, EVER… but I can’t keep up!” or the “Can I book my 2017 fall session with you now?”

But the extreme lows and highs had me all:

No but seriously.  We faced chaos something fierce!  Bear with me through Exhibit B, C, D, E, F…. there’s a lot of exhibits, okay?!

Behold- we learned that sometimes, an early Christmas is just what the doctor ordered.

We are the Paullin’s.  Birthed from him.  A humble, fighter pilot– who taught us to go after our dreams…So we did.

My biggest oldest brother, Jeff has the best parts of my dad mixed with the coolest parts of any tech savvy nerd.  He & Jackie are retiring and moving to Rehoboth –They’re currently renovating a home that has an outdoor TV and some sort of sound system I can’t begin to understand.  It’ll be pretty boss.Mark owns his own law firm (not sure if this is a good or bad thing considering how large the family is…).  He also reminds us on a nearly daily basis that the Redskins are the best team.. and that the Cowboys are the worst.This is Cindy- my sistil.  That’s what we call each other..sister-in-love.. because “law” is just insulting when she was there the day after I was born. (ps. She tells me I was the inspiration for their own children.) and y’all know Trey…he kind of makes my heart pitter patter (that’s a real thing).Meet Lauren- who just got back from teaching for 6 months in India (using her M.Ed. from HARVARD!).  She taught the importance and effectiveness of implementing art into daily curriculum…and her husband Alex- he saves lives in Charlottesville working for the fire department.  p.s. She has the BEST laugh!And let me tell you about Alex.  He came home after 1.5 year traveling in Africa…and he’s some sort of fabulous famous.  He’s chasing his dream through the Conservation Music Project.  (Did I mention the Paullins’ love for music?  I think it started with Dad’s 75+ year career as a trumpet player).This is Charlie, and Kate.  When Charlie was 12 and visiting us in South Dakota, I remember asking him what he wanted to do when he “grew-up.”  “Be a news reporter…” He said that without blinking an eye… Read his stuff here.  (Did I mention that Dad taught us to chase our dreams until we catch them?”  And Kate!  She graduated from UofR in May.  Before that though- she was a world traveler, teaching in schools in Africa and skiing the Alps.  And now- she’s got an even bigger world ahead of her…the “what’s next” world, where the future is so bright she’s going to need a hot, new pair of Ray-Bans.It’d been over 10 years since we were all in one place at one time.  And we bowed our heads in prayer together (however that might be) for our earthly keeper.  The heavenly Keeper, heard them.  And… well… you heard the doctor.  “He passed with flying colors!”

Behold- we learned that mini-vacations really do give breathing room..more on that in a couple of weeks (but here’s one of my favorites… because, you know, Christmas tree)!

We may have lost and recovered our laptop.. and that’s okay because I said, recovered laptop.  note: it became “our” laptop the moment it went missing… but I’m pretty sure that I asked Trey to bring me “my laptop” from upstairs yesterday morning….

Behold- we learned that dollar bills have more use than for vending machines, or r-rated clubs that are discriminatory towards the human body (not that we would know).

Getting all the feels over Kellan’s face when he realized he got a box of tissues for Christmas.  Here’s a Christmas gift idea: tape a bunch of dollar bills together, roll them up, and put them at the bottom of a kleenex box.

Tav is no dummy!  When he saw Kellan get money in a tissue box, he KNEW his was next.  Another Christmas gift idea: we wrapped a pizza box and made a “pie” if you will… out of dollar bills.  Tav got through it before we could get any other pictures….

This was technically my first Bressler Christmas…my goodness it was the most beautiful spawn of pinterest! My husband.. he may be a super huge Dallas fan/nerd, but oh Lawdy do I. LOVE. HIM.

Ask me how badly these pictures are giving me baby fever, I dare you!and a quiet end to the night… us with our pup… and our newest roommates come May.  (You’ll be hearing about that a lot in the coming future….) —

I opened my Bible App this morning because in all my 2017 goal planning, I needed some inspiration.  How’s this:

In His kindness, God called you to share in His eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus.  So after you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation.  (1 Peter 5:10, NLT)

Good riddance, 2016… but thanks for the beautiful ending.  I wish it could have stayed a little longer; because it was beautiful all collided and tornado’d (because that’s a real-life adjective), our crazy, little December to remember.