Christmas Miracles and Wisdom

Merry Christmas, everyone!
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Yesterday was a little nutty. We were having an ice storm in the morning so I was off to a late start. I dropped Bianca off at daycare and went to work. It was actually fairly busy. Boss never showed up but was nice enough to call at noon and tell us to take off for the day. It was absolutely pouring out, all day! I picked up Bianca b/c her daycare was closing at 1pm. We had to make a few stops which would not have been bad, even on Christmas Eve, if not for the rain on top of the foot of snow, sand, dirt....blech. Wet, slushy, slippery, messy, yucky!!!!
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We went to a family get together at my BFF's parents house. We go every Christmas Eve. They are my "adopted family" and I'm so thankful for them. They are the extended family I don't have and I just adore them. Bianca was having so much fun with my friends 16 month old daughter. They were a riot together. The whole group is such a close knit family. I just soaked it all. It was joyous.
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Bianca and I got home around 10:30. We put on our Christmas PJ's and hung our stockings on the mantel. We left cookies and milk for Santa. We left carrots for the reindeer. We went to her bedroom and I read her some books. For the first time, I read her the true story of Christmas. I told her about the birth of Jesus and we said a little prayer together. Talk about Christmas miracles. First I said that I was thankful for her and her little eyes got so big as she said "Me? You're thankful for me?" So cute. And then I told her to tell God what she was thankful for and she said "I'm thankful for.....everyone!" After she went to bed, I was up til almost 2am cleaning, cooking and doing Santa duty. I was exhausted but it was SO worth it!! Oh, and I was sewing whiskers on her stuffed kitten because that is what she wanted for Christmas, lol. Fishing line....worked like a charm and made a Christmas miracle in her little world.
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She woke up this morning so excited. We opened the last day on the Advent calendar. We went downstairs where she was beside herself seeing the gifts, the eaten cookies, the filled stockings with her kitty on top, new whiskers and all. Holy cow.....the girl almost popped with glee! I let her open 2 gifts from her stocking and then we cooked breakfast. My Mom arrived at 9 and we had breakfast, nice and leisurely. Then we spent the next 2 hours opening stockings. (We have huge stockings!) We played and watched Christmas specials for a while. I made dinner which came out amazing!! And we didn't get back to opening the gifts under the tree until about 4:30. I wanted to let Bianca set the pace so that she could enjoy herself. Really it was perfect. My Mom left around 7:30 and I had a great time with her.
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At one point during stockings, Bianca and my Mom both got these ladybug magnets from me. We already have one little tiny one on the fridge but these were bigger. Bianca went to get the little one and put them all 3 together on the table, calling them Mommy, Daddy and Baby. She said that she wanted to put them on the fridge and my Mom says "That's what family is all about. Sticking together." I just noticed it as something that would have triggered me in the past but I let it ride realizing she was completely unaware what she was saying and that it didn't need to carry any weight in my present day life. (Clarification: despite the abuse that was part of my young life, my mother felt the only option was "keeping the family together") A short while later, while I was cooking, Bianca and my Mom were playing with this little train that has magnets between all the cars. My Mom kept trying to stick 2 of the cars together and Bianca was pulling them back apart. Bianca said "No Gramma. You can't make them stick together if they don't want to!" What a wise little girl I've got! :o)
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I hope that everyone had a peaceful, warm, safe and happy holiday.