Happy New Year my friends! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday break filled with lots of cookies, warm memories (on those oh so cold days we had) and tons of love.
Over here we took a much-needed break to disconnect from anything work related and just BE.
And thank goodness because on Christmas morning we woke up to about 4 inches of water on our floors and a frozen pipe.
Needless to say, that was not how I intended on spending my morning, but because I was feeling pretty centered, I like to think I handled the crisis like a champ. But the REAL MVP's of this Christmas disaster were my 6 and 10-year-old (who had literally been rehearsing how she planned to walk down the stairs on Christmas morning for the previous 10 days) who sat patiently at the top of our steps for close to 40 minutes while my husband and I mitigated the situation.
Super proud mom moment right there.
 After 40 minutes of waiting these kiddos were SO ready to run down the stairs Christmas morning! |
We ended up with water in our laundry room, morning room, dining room, kitchen, basement and garage, but guess what? Not a drop where Santa dropped his gifts. What a Christmas miracle! From there, the miracles just kept pouring in as family, friends, and neighbors flocked to help get us back on our feet without missing a beat (even after pipes 2 and 3 burst not even 24 hours later). So it's been super eventful over here in our house for the holidays as we start 2023 under major construction.
In spite of all the insanity, I truly enjoyed the rest of our holiday break - I volunteered at my son's school for his Polar Express and Holiday party, baked & decorated cookies with my kids and their friends, indulged at my husband's MPLX holiday party at Southpointe, ate incredible food while spending quality time with my siblings, parents and in laws, cuddled the newest addition to our family (my sisters brand-new baby) on Christmas Eve watching the Steelers play from the comfort of my home while the rest of my family was freezing watching from the stands, went to Cirque Holidays at the Benedum, attended the most fabulous wedding on NYE at the Omni William Penn and booked 2 trips for 2023!
I think we went out with a bang ;)
 Cirque Holiday Dreams was the perfect family show we needed to wind down after Christmas |
So now we're moving on to a new year, and aside from just my personal life, it has been a time to reflect on everything I have gained as a direct result of being your Macaroni KID publisher these past few years.
When I started publishing for Macaroni KID almost 3 years ago, I was excited about the possibility of a creative outlet, a way to connect with more families, give back to our communities, and create unique experiences for my family. I had no idea just how many of those things came in abundance in 2022.
This past year was filled with so many incredible experiences as a result of my work with MacKID - travel, friendships, exposure to arts and entertainment, partnerships with amazing advertisers and collaborators, giving back to local small businesses, putting smiles on our readers faces and SO much more. This publication is truly a collaborative effort between our readers, contributors, advertisers and publishers, and I couldn't do it alone. I want you to know that I am grateful for the support from each one of you and look forward to what 2023 plans to bring our PGH MacKID fam 💗
Wishing you all good health, abundance, peace, love, serenity, and all my best.
