Holiday Transition!

So Christmas is over...sigh.... I had a wonderful holiday.

Things started a little early, sort of. One night, a few days before Christmas, Kevin and I were cuddling. Kind of suddenly he got this look in his eye. There was something on his mind, something he wanted to say. "Whatcha thinking?" Silence. Hmmmm, usually I get "nothing" or what he's actually thinking. "Something's going on upstairs." Silence. Quietly, "tell me." He starred at me for a few moments and I could tell he was trying to figure out whether to tell me what he was thinking or blatantly lie and have me know that he was lying. At first I thought nothing of the situation, but as he vacillated, I began to worry. We are extremely open with each other. What could he possibly have to say that he would be uncertain of?? But then, he dropped the "L bomb." I was NOT expecting that to come out of his mouth, but I do have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I kissed him for a long time trying to figure out if I was going to laugh or cry and what I should say in response. There was only one logical response: "I love you, too." It was probably one of the sweetest, most tender moments I've ever experienced. After all the bullshit I've gone through with the males in my past, I can honestly say that I do, indeed, love Kevin. (dude, I'm giddy just typing about it)

Saturday, my mom, Kevin, and I packed up and headed to the other side of the state (3.5 hours) to go to Christmas Eve service at my church (near school). They had a SPECTACULAR service full of Christmas music, lights, and candles. We all had a really terrific time. Then it was back in the car to head back to St. Pete in time for Midnight Mass with his mom. By this point we were getting rather tired as the day was getting longer. While his mom is catholic, I think it'd be a stretch to consider him so. Still, we were both prepared to do the sit, kneel, stand thing that is expected in Midnight Mass. Well, about half way through, his niece (4 years old) was getting restless and her mom (with one child already asleep on her lap) was getting annoyed. So, I took Alana and she quickly fell asleep on my lap. This meant that of the four adults there, only two weren't pinned to the pews. Kevin tried his best to go through the motions, but the poor guy was falling asleep. He kept dropping his head and I'd poke him in the side: "I'm praying." "They don't pray to the sleep gods in this church."

Then it was to our separate houses to wait for Santa and rest up for the next day's activities. He spent the day with his family and I spent the day with my mom. We woke up late and opened the few presents under the tree with deliberate sloth. Then she made some breakfast, that even she admitted was nasty, and we watched a few episodes of my newly aquired Lois & Clark DVD set (first season). Then we decided that regardless of us being in FL we were going to have a white christmas. So, off to the beach we went. We finished up the evening with dinner and more Lois & Clark. Later, my mom agreed I could call Kevin and he could come over for a bit. We'd originally agreed that there would be no Kevin on Christmas so that we could spend some quality time together.

Time for more presents!!! I can honestly say I was not expecting the kind of thoughtfulness and care that went into my gifts from him. First I opened lotion and body spray in my FAVORITE scent of all time. We'd gone shopping with his brother and stopped in Bath and Body Works to pick up something for his fiancee. Of course I wandered over to the testers of my favorite scent and being that we're attached at the hip, Kevin was at my heels. Next was a book. Wicked, as in the Broadway musical. On his birthday (Sat after Thanks) we'd been wandering the mall when I saw Wicked advertised as playing in the area. However, the dates wouldn't work at all. Since he couldn't buy me tickets, he figured he'd get me the book instead. Then there was this picture display thing. It had a picture of us, a goofy picture of him he'd sent to me one night when I was stressed and upset, and a picture of me holding my god-daughter at dinner a week or so ago. By this point I was dumbfounded and grinning like a maniac. Last, there was a beautiful silver watch with small, tasteful diamonds on the quarter hour. It's quite lovely and much nicer than anything I would have picked out myself. As I am rather short on cash this holiday season, my presents for him were far less showy. I bought him a steamer basket to make fresh, steamed vegetables. It was more or less a joke because he refused to eat green beans until I steamed them and put a bit of butter and salt on them, then made him try them. Now he likes green beans. Then I gave him a shadow box full of sand from the beach we went to on our second date and the beach we went to for his birthday (I went to each beach and collected sand and shells). I had mixed the sand with glue, drew a heart, wrote "T + K" in the heart, and put shells around the edges. Lastly, he opened a large picture frame I had filled with picture of me, him, us, the fire we'd made the first time we met, and the sunset from his birthday. Apparently, one of the pictures of me is his favorite picture of me--lucked out with that one.

Since my mom and Kevin both had the day off Monday and all three of us have been wanting to go to Disney, we all hopped into the car and headed to Orlando for the day. It was so much fun!! We took lots of pictures. Here are the ones Disney took. The whole way there and throughout the day I kept tapping Kevin, "Guess what!" "What?" "We're going/at Disney!" About half way through the day I was looking the other way on the bus transport between parks when I felt a tap on my hand, "Guess what!" "What?" "I love you." AWWWWW it was the sweetest thing!! We both started giggling and my mom asked what we were laughing about. Two guilty "nothings" were her only response. She just rolled her eyes and let it go.

I've had a terrific few days. I'm floating on cloud 9 as we head toward the beginning of a new year. I could pretend to make new year resolutions, but does that really work for anyone?? I'll continue to try to loose weight, continue to try to not procrastinate, and continue to try to give up Cherry Pepsi. Will it work this year?? Who knows, but I'm not holding my breath until it does!!

I hope all of you had a TERRIFIC holiday season!!

Much love to one and all!!