I keep hearing reports of holiday flu, general malaise and crud going on from household to household. (I've had it too.) If you want a little too much information on how viruses evolve watch the above viral video. I find it fascinating and somewhat comforting. Show to your kids. It may elicit a few "Ewws and gross!" (But I bet they will ALWAYS sneeze into their arm from now on.)

My mixture of aforementioned crud starting at Thanksgiving and lasted about three weeks. Great timing right? It was tough to get motivated and ambitious to cross everything off my list for the holidays this year. Nyquil was my sidekick but left my head feeling cobwebby. Then there's been all of that blizzardy snow thrown in the mix.

But as it turns out. I'm thankful for the sickness and the snow. It made me slow down and re-think the way I've been doing things.

This year I've given myself permission to turn the Christmas cards into New Year's cards. I've been online shopping instead of hitting the malls. Sending e-gift cards have also made my life easier. I've turned down a few holiday invitations of festivity, some, not all. And I've turned to gift bags instead of rolls of wrapping paper and Scotch tape.

Mind you, I still have moments of complete and utter holiday paralysis when I get overwhelmed by it all and just freeze. Then I'll go into frantic speed mode check, check ,check, get it done. But making those few changes mentioned above has felt incredibly liberating.

It's about stopping. Taking a breath. And enjoying the magical moments.

Picasa, Star Tribune

I have this photo of my kids framed from a few years back framed on our mantle.

It makes me stops in my tracks every time.

Other things that make me stop in my tracks and enjoy the moment? Little Vivian. She balls up her fists and literally shakes with excitement just thinking about Christmas morning. And Benjamin, growing up getting over some stage fright and actually singing along this year in his preschool Christmas pageant. He told me even though he was nervous "It made my heart so happy."

Happy Holidays Cribsheeters - enjoy your magical moments this year. Share yours below.