“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss

I took a break from the blog to meet up with friends and family during this busy time of year. Can't believe how much has happened in the last 10 days! Going home was great but exhausting. I'm not used to socializing so much anymore! Lol

Since we was only going to be home for 7 days many friends had booked us in ahead of time to make sure we got together which was great. So we has the week planned even before we arrived. The main events were our family Christmas parties which allowed us to many people in one place.

The Cappuccitti Christmas that took place, now has to be hosted in a hall because we've gotten too big. The kids outnumber the adults and we need to have space to keep them busy.The best part is there is no mess to clean up at the end and we can truly enjoy and be present with each other. It was so nice to catch up and see all the cousins. I don't come from a large family so this is a true blessing for me to be a part of a family with so many cousins around the same age!

My small family got together as well, Rob and I hosted my extended family, mainly my mom's cousins at our home.  I even decorated the house for the little time we were home just to make it seem more festive. Lots of laughs were had and memories made. It was so nice to have everyone over, I think my mom enjoyed it too as this year has been a hard one for her. 

The best part of being home was seeing my niece and nephews, they are the ones I miss the most when I'm away. Being an aunt is the best job in the world, you get all the love without the daily work of parenting. My brother and Sabrina had concert tickets so I took advantage of the opportunity and had my nephews Noah and Jacob even squeeze in a sleepover. We watched a Christmas movie, cuddled on the couch and played board games. Although I didn't get to have Ariel, Aidan and Asher over, we did have some great moments at the Christmas party, and it reminded me of how much they are growing up. Loved the creativity and willingness to put themselves out there in front of our whole gang for a live dance performance they created with some of the other little cousins. As they get older, I'm definitely looking forward to having more opportunities to create memories with all of them.

As this week comes to an end I can honestly say it was wonderful to come home for a little pit stop before our next leg of the adventure. Many presents were wrapped (it takes me so much longer now), house was decorated and decorations were taken down, visits were made, saw some snow and I even found some time to volunteer at Santa’s Helper on my short trip home. Volunteering is another big part of who I am and it wouldn't have felt the same without giving back, especially during this time of year.

Thankfully we were able to leave Toronto before the storm hit and made it back to Delray, this time with Simone. We are now back in our Happy Place, getting ready for Matteo to arrive from his 4 month experience abroad next week and giving Simone lots of attention (she loves her time alone with us). We've decorated the condo, got the line up of Christmas movies ready to go and no snow! Now that’s my kind of Christmas...