Blisters, a very annoying husband sore muscles, two engagements, more presents and more chaotic joy than I could have ever asked for.

 Today is the 26th, day after Christmas. It is officially our last full day in Texas, thankfully we are pretty much prepared to go tomorrow. All we really need to do is pack up, get the dogs ready and head west.  We wanted today to be as relaxed as possible and we want to be rested up because our plan is to drive strait through to Tucson on Friday--about 13 hours. We do have a bail out plan to stop in El Paso if need be but I think with the dogs, we both prefer to just get there. 

I had to keep telling myself that yesterday is not the last Christmas we will celebrate with our families here in Texas. They will still live here, we still own the house, flights in and out are fairly easy and we will we always have a place to stay. I think with the positive thinking it was nearly as sad as I was expecting it to be. Not sad, but chaotic none the less. 

It started off when we all met up at my older sister's house to walk over to our church's Christmas Eve service. I was trying to think back and I don't think I've ever messed one, I would imagine that even when I was an infant my mom bundled me up and took me to Church. So if I'm doing the math right, last night was my 34th time sitting in nearly the exact same pews that my family has occupied for my favorite night of church of the year. I've come to have a lot of questions about my faith but I always feel closer to God on Christmas Eve for whatever reason. The service is much more modern than it used to be but it's still so beautiful with the candles and darkened room and the music that still gives me chills. 

Our plan was to meet at Jenn's house about half an hour before the service. Even with just my side of the family, kids and in-laws its still quite a gaggle and we were having trouble getting everyone organized and as we were walking out the door, my little brother Brian finally showed up--but with no girlfriend like we were expecting. He has three very nosy older sisters so we all asked him where Genevieve was and he was very short with us that she was attending her Catholic mass. We asked him if everything was ok and he said that he wanted to talk to Bubs first. So as the gaggle was walking over, Bubs and my brother were about 20 steps behind us having a very serious conversation. When we got to the building, I tried to pull my brother aside and remind that while Bubs may be his best friend, I'm still his sister and I felt like I had a little bit at stake if something was going with he and Evie since I introduced them. He hugged me and I actually thought for half a second that we were going to have a nice moment, but he pulled back and said "you are easily the most annoying sister." Gee, thanks Brian...glad I could be of help. 

When the service was over, Brian asked Bubs if he would be up for going for a run. Bubs was actually very sweet and made sure that I was good. The kids were sleeping at my parents, all the Santa presents were already in my little sister's garage where we would be celebrating the next day so the Christmas Eve activities were done. But if I'm being more honest it was killing me to not know what was going on with Brian so I hoped that if he and Bubs went on a short run, I'd get to hear all the details when they got back. 

I think I've made it clear before but sometimes Bubs can be something of a dumbass. Well he hasn't really run since he hurt his ankle and one sure thing about him is his ridiculous tendency to overdo things, especially when it comes to athletic pursuits. I think to most normal people a short run is maybe 20 minutes or a couple of miles, especially on Christmas eve. When they were gone for 30 minutes, I looked at his location and realized that they were still heading away from the house and I was so annoyed. I called him and he didn't pick up so all I could do was watch his location as they got to about five miles away, turn around and head home. My husband, who has not been on a run in months did 10 miles with my little brother...on Christmas Eve no less. 

When they got back I met them at the front door and Bubs could barely walk. I wanted to talk to Brian but he checked out and headed home after he got Bubs inside. He'd given himself massive blisters and was bemoaning how sore he was going to be in the morning. I was so pissed because we have so much going on, I don't need a husband who's laid up and unable to help me do Christmas stuff, let alone pack and drive 13 hours. I was so pissed at him and it got worse when he wouldn't tell me what he and Brian talked about. All he said was that Brian asked to keep it between them until tomorrow.  We've done a great job of not fighting over the last few months but with the stupid Christmas Eve run and then not telling me what Brian's deal was, I turned my back to him when we went to bed and demanded he not touch me. He said that he promised all would be good and Brian will tell us all when he's ready. At least in the moment, it wasn't good enough and I was fuming pissed. 

My parents let the kids get up super early so we woke up with them jumping into the bed with us and asking if Aunt Jess was ready for us to come over. I called her and she said that even though it was a little past six, the kids  had the momentum and my older sister was already on her way over with her kids. I was still very upset with Bubs but it was very sweet to watch him get the kids into their Christmas pajamas for the last time (for a while at least) in our house. I even helped him limp over to my sister's house because he's an idiot, but he's my idiot. 

I think one of my favorite things about living so close with my sisters has always been that we've done combined Christmas mornings and watching 7 kids tear into presents has always been so fun. We were just in the post-present come down when Brian and Evie walked in and she held up her left hand with a gorgeous engagement ring with tears running down her face. The three older sisters basically forgot about everything else going on and got up and gave her a huge welcome to the family hug and sat her down and let her hold court and listened to her every detail about the proposal. The very short version of it is that Brian flew out to her hometown a week after Thanksgiving to introduce himself to Evie's family without her knowing. They fell in love with him and he told them that he'd like to propose Christmas Eve. Her family wanted to be there so they flew out and surprised Evie and took her to their mass, Brian met them as they were walking out and proposed to her. The reason for all the clandestine activity last night is Brian wanted to hang out with his best friend and calm his nerves by going on the long run. I appreciate that Brian and Bubs are such great friends but I wish they had thought of another way then forcing my husband to limp around with blisters the size of quarters. Again, he's an idiot but he's my idiot and that was a pretty sweet thing to do for my brother. My mom was going to host Christmas dinner so she asked what Evie's family plans were since they here on short notice. She said that she and Brian were going to head back to Austin and her dad was trying to make reservations at one of the hotels. My mom insisted they join us and they accepted so about an hour later we got to meet Evie's parents and her little sister and they are absolutely lovely people and I can't wait to get to know them better. They are also from New Mexico so Bubs and Evie's dad bonded over their "hatred" of Texas and they invited us to stop by on our way to Arizona but we had to decline because it's just too far out of our way but the gesture was so sweet. 

So I have alluded to the fact that Bubs little sister Addie has been dating her boyfriend for close to 7 years now and so far he hasn't proposed. Addie is also my little sister's best friend, in fact they have been best friends longer than I have been with Bubs. Addie basically gave her boyfriend an ultimatum this year that she's got way too much time invested in him to break up, but she wants kids so if he doesn't propose by the end of this year she's dragging him to the court house and they are getting married. She said that court house marriages are in her family history since her older brother did it and she had no problem dragging him by the ear to the court house and walking away a married woman. We were all pretty certain that he was going to call her bluff and they'd end up getting married in front of a judge in early January. I mean yesterday could not have been more perfect for a true romantic like me because as soon as as all the excitement died down from Brian's proposal, Addie and her boyfriend...excuse me...fiancé...walked through the door with an equally as beautiful ring. Addie is closer with Jess for sure so Jenn and I let her have her moment but as soon as they were done, we got to sit around a second young bride-to-be and hear about her proposal. Addie's wasn't quite as dramatic as being proposed to outside Midnight Mass but it was pretty sweet in that he proposed in front of their very small Christmas tree which she loved because it was intimate and quiet. 

Love was in the air and even though Bubs was limping around while he was trying to help Jenn and Jess's husbands clean up the mess, it hit me how cute and sweet he really is and how much I absolutely adore him. He gave himself severe blisters and severe muscle soreness to help calm my brother's nerves in advance of one of the biggest events of my brother's life. I mean, it was frustrating to be left out and I was pissed at him last night...but what a guy. And here he was the next morning trying to make sure that my sister's house was as clean as possible after 7 kids had torn through wrapping paper, boxes and bags like a tornado. I am so, so lucky. 

We ended up heading home for a bit to do some packing and get the kids cleaned up and into real clothes before we headed over to my parent's house for Christmas dinner. After that we headed over to Bubs parent's house where we got to do desert and open some more presents. Addie was there so I got to talk with her for a really long time and she's so excited...they are moving into our house on Saturday and she said that it could not be more perfect and she's going to try to get pregnant right away. I warned her that her mom may actually blow a gasket by getting two new grandbabies in one year and she said that I was the lucky one because she's going to have "love enough" for four kids but only one within driving distance. I agreed and wished her luck. 

By about 6 or 7 I was utterly exhausted. The kids spent the night at Bub's parents house and we said our goodbyes and headed home. I finally had a chance to chat with Bubs so I told him how much I appreciated everything that he did for Brian last night and even though it made me mad in the moment, it was very sweet. He said that Brian is so happy with Evie and even though he doesn't tell me, he really appreciates that I thought enough of both of them to set them up. 

We got in and it was the very last evening that we would unlock the doors to our house and head up to bed. It got to me in the moment and Bubs told me he had one more present for me. I figured it was going to be something small or even a gag gift related to us moving. But nope, he got me a gift I told him I wanted years ago and honestly hadn't thought of it since. I'd always wanted a necklace and earrings by the same company that did my engagement ring and wedding band. I'm not a huge jewelry person so it wasn't that big of a deal that I hadn't gotten it yet. But as I unwrapped the package and saw the name of the jewelry store in Dallas that had sold us our rings 11 years ago I about fainted. He got me a beautiful one carat pendant necklace and 1/2 carat stud earrings done in white gold, just like my ring. They are gorgeous and I love them so much. We had agreed that with all the excitement, we weren't going to do gifts this year but his gift was so perfect that I wasn't even upset that he broke our agreement. He said all he'd gotten all he'd wanted this year since we were getting along so much better, we were moving for him and I was about to give him our third kid. 

I honestly wasn't trying to be sexy but I stood more or less naked looking at my new jewelry in the mirror when he came up behind me and wrapped his hands around the bottom of my belly. I'm getting big enough to where that feeling of just a little extra support is absolute heaven. We are both a lot older now with a lot of miles behind us but I could see the two kids we used to be staring back at us in the mirror. I don't quite know what I did to be so lucky to get such a great guy. 

If all goes to plan, about 12 hours from now we will be on our way to our new life in Arizona.