Yesterday was my mom's birthday. I intended to have my thankful post up, in honor of her, but then I realized I didn't have any relatively recent pictures of her with us kids or her grandkids; so I"m a day late! Last night we had dinner & cake, with her & my dad. She had all her Christmas decorations up & it was fun to watch Ella with her first Christmas-tree experience. My mom has always been known as the Queen of Christmas. We usually decorated the day after Thanksgiving; & it always nearly coincided with her birthday. This meant, every single year, us kids would get her a santa. She always loved them (I think). Now she gets pictures of the grandkids, I think she loves that a little bit more ;) She'd be happy even if she got nothing. My mom is awesome. I feel pretty lucky- I have an amazing family & we are all so close. Plus, she's incredibly patient. I don't think I realized how patient, until I had kids myself. Some days, I try to reach real hard for her patients, because I need them! For my mom, I am so incredibly thankful!!!