A countdown of sorts

10 years ago I don't remember what I was doing on Christmas. I was dating an evil guy TM and I honestly don't remember what happened at Christmas. In a weird way, I am glad I don't remember. I don't remember a lot of my life that occurred when I was with him. Maybe I repressed those memories. (Sometimes a little repression is a good idea.) I do know that if you'd have told me where I would be in 10 years I would never have believed you.

9 years ago I had just met my husband (in October) and we were apart at Christmas. It was sad. He was with his family and I was with mine. He emailed me and said he hoped we'd never be apart again at Christmas. (All together now, Awww!)

8 years ago my husband and I spent our first Christmas together. I made manicotti. He proposed. He did not propose because of the manicotti. It was good manicotti, but not that good. We had some friends over for dinner.

7 years ago we spent our first married Christmas together with his family. It snowed there.

6 years ago we spent Christmas with my family. I can't remember if it snowed, but I do know it was grey and bleak. Opening presents was insane. My husband thought the present opening process with my family resembled a shark feeding frenzy.

5 years ago I was desperately wanting to get pregnant after a miscarriage. It felt like we'd been trying forever. We didn't go anywhere. It was this year when we realized how much we liked staying home at the holidays. I got to spend some time with a friend who had just had her first baby. It made me want to have a baby even more.

4 years ago I was pregnant with N and huge. N was due in early January so we didn't travel anywhere. I couldn't believe I was actually going to end up with a baby in a few short weeks. My beloved kitty was very sick and I was nursing him back to health. (The first of much care that I gave to him until February when he left our existence.)

3 years ago N was almost 1 and we were so excited to have her. I got to see the friend who I'd seen 2 Christmases before when she had a baby and I didn't. I was so happy to have N and to be a Mom too. N learned to walk at the beginning of December and we were chasing her everywhere during Christmas break. She walked for about a week and then she learned to run. She was such a spaz and so much fun.

2 years ago I was pregnant with K (about 20 weeks) and we were recovering from the worst flu ever. Seriously. My husband and I didn't leave the house for 10 days. (This is one reason (among many) why we don't travel around the holidays.)

1 year ago my world changed in an instant when I pee'd on a stick and saw two lines. I had always thought that it wasn't easy for me to get pregnant, and suddenly I had a surprise pregnancy. Whoa. This. Rocked. My. World. I made my husband go to the store and buy some more pregnancy tests cause I was sure that the old one I had was wrong. It wasn't. I don't remember much about Christmas after that test. (I do, but it all pales in comparison to that surprise!) That wonderful surprise is now beside me drooling and chewing on my jeans (yum).

That leaves us with where we are now.