Why do we gauge our memories by our kids ages?

ok, today is Christmas. Peace on earth, goodwill towards Man. It is wonderful. i have my family all together and i am content. My MIL was here, and i love her dearly. But needless to say, she has a few quirks in her personality that annoy me. For starters, my beloved is not her favorite son. It is hard for me to understand why, my husband, the one who is nearest to her, who slaves over her house, shows up no matter what, makes sure she has her meds, whatever, is not the favorite. The fact that he is the light of my life, that i am totally devoted to this man, is beside the point. Do not get me wrong, my BIL is a really nice guy. I like him, i am just really sure the sun doesnt rise and set on him. Anyway, while we sit here for the Holy day, we are treated to a blow by blow detailed description of the favorite childs life, his current life, his childhood, and the entire magic of his life. When we discussed her present from us, we somehow managed to bring that to the age of this son. When clowns came in the parade, on TV, she pointed out that those were also that son's fear, (my son fears or hates them) when we talked about schools, we discussed that son's schools, his house etc. I understand that she has these memories, and I think she misses him not being near for the Holy days, and such, and as his life is often a trainwreck, he is on her mind and heart alot, but come on! She was sitting in her other Son's house and all her memories were of the other. Why couldnt she , oh i dunno, mention that son's life, childhood, schools? Is it just me or is that not the tiniest bit RUDE? i also had hurt feelings for my hubby. How must it feel to know that one's own mom has so much devotion to the one who is the most screwed up? its kind of like hearing, "yeah, you got straight A's, way to go, but your brother is troubled and i have to ignore you now." it has to be harsh. I know, as a parent, we are all just doing the best we can and trying to get through the days. and some days we do better than others and some days we hope we don't screw things up too bad. I also know that as a parent, i adhere alot of dates to the ages of my kids or certain milestones of kids, "we moved into that house when K was walking" etc. but why is all her memories attached to only one kid? that seems so unfair and i am outraged on my hubby's behalf. It really pisses me off.

Now the other side to this whole day, my dear sweet sweet hubby got me a whole bag of yarn for Christmas! is he not the most wonderfullest sweetest sweetheart ever?
Also, last night, my entire family sat together in church. It was a hearts boldest dream come true. I was in the church i love so much, with my whole family. I was so happy. I cannot believe how happy that made me. i sat there trying not to actually cry cause it was so overwhelming. But it was wonderful. I would really really love it if he would go with me on a sunday from time to time too. Oh that would be so awesome. But i must not be greedy. I just want to go to church, find my peace with God and pray that one day, James will go and find that joy that i have found. that would be so amazing!!!!

what else, now that i am on a roll. I ate parts of dinner. i didnt get sick. it is good so far. I need to eat somemore yogurt for today. but it was nice to eat a few bits and not get sick. yay for progress.
I was thinking a few minutes ago about hubby. About how, when i was being created by God, he knew, that he had already made the most perfect person for me. He is such the perfect husband for me. he isnt perfect. just perfect for me. I am the luckiest, most happy person in the entire universe. I have this amazing hubby and these two great kids. i am so blessed.

Blessed are the Peacemakers

I had a busy weekend. It is mother's day weekend, so the family asked me what i wanted. I decided i wanted Ferns and plant/pot my herbs. (dtr K got me some basil, sage, dill, chives, and rosemary)So we headed off to Lowes, and got some ferns and some plants to put on the front porch. We got three giant 64 pound bags of dirt and some various flowers( geraniums and petunias) and then we came home and started potting them. Hubby, once the potting was complete, began work on the sprinkler system for the lawn. We also planned to grill out for Mothers day, so we ran to the grocery store to pick up supplies. The family is eating hamburger and i am having portabella burger, and grilled corn on the cob, potato salad and pineapple upside down cake. We also got some yummy fruit wine to sip on. It was funny. Hubby and I decided to try the fruit wine. It was awesome. We ended up drinking the bottle last night. None for today. So when i got home from church, we went to the store and got another bottle. I also had some fresh strawberries to slice up and drop in there. The glass looked so elegant with the strawberries and bubbly wine. It was so wonderful . Hubby and i went for a ride on the bike last night, while it was still light but not hot and then we got up this morning and the two of us went for a ride and had breakfast together. He is so sweet. I had made food to take to church today. I had signed up, so i made some chocolatey cupcakes and had cheese and crackers and some juice for the kids. Church was awesome. We had this speaker from Australia. Phil Jones. He is a great speaker, very entertaining and also musical. He sang and played music and played the Didgeridoo. I had a great time. Then we had the flower communion. If you have never seen one, it is where everyone brings a flower and puts it in a vase at the beginning and then at the end of service each one goes forward and get a different flower. It is traditionally done at mothers day. it is a beautiful thing and so wonderful to see the variety of flowers. It is very symbolic of the variety of people and talents that each person brings to the church and then the individual and what they take with them when they leave each service.
After church, i came home and we grilled and hubby mom came and and we ate lunch. We had a lovely talk . She really is a nice person. I am so blessed.

The only negative for the day, is this election at church. i am so tired of it all. Everyone wants the best for the church, but at the same time, they have different ideas of what is best. There is but one week remaining. After the election i hope we are all able to put aside the conflicts and work together to bring another two years of greatness.
I wont go into the details of the whole church thing. Suffice it to say, strong personalities and diverse ideals are clashing and i feel caught in the middle. But soon, soon it shall be over and we can get back to being a family. I, for one, am eager for that day to be here.