I guess I’m going to squeeze one more post into 2018…and, okay, there’s really no need for squeezing since 2018 wasn’t my most stellar year for regular posting. Oh well. I’m hoping to keep posting through 2019 but I’m not sure about regularity quite yet. I like posting once a week but I don’t know if I have the content to keep that up. We’ll see! I know my blog is small and I only have like four followers, but if there’s any posts you’d like to see more of, let me know! Anyhooooooow…here’s a few happenings from this month along with a healthy amount of Christmasy pictures:)
•Post big earthquake life has been no joke. The aftershocks have tapered but we even felt one today. Life keeps going but there is certainly a fear at the back of my mind that needs to be kept in check. And poor Wendy still gets nervous any time she hears a loud or unexpected noise. We hear our neighbors often so Wendy’s gotten to where if she hears something she’ll say, “It’s just the neighbors.” I’m pretty sure we inadvertently are conditioning her to hate neighbors. Whoops…
•We’ve done some really fun activities this month. Our church had a Christmas party and they invited some reindeer! I had to ask around to confirm but no, reindeer are NOT at every Christmas party up here so we really got a treat! They’re surprisingly soft and sweet creatures!
•We also has the opportunity to go cross country skiing with a couple from our church. There’s a groomed and lit trail not too far from us. We had so much fun that we decided to give each other skis for Christmas. We even got Wendy a little pair. We’ve taken her out once and she seemed to enjoy it. We’re hoping to take the skis out a couple more times before Ben goes back to school.
•This was our first Christmas ever that was just us and I honestly had mixed feeling about it. I’ve always wanted to just do our own thing (traveling during the winter gives me anxiety) but since Ben has always had long breaks, it’s just made sense to visit family for Christmas. This year Ben still has a long break but we knew traveling wasn’t in our budget. So we stayed at home and lots of it I loved but we also knew each of our families were spending so much time together and it was hard to know we were missing out. There’s benefits and downfalls to both staying home and traveling I suppose.
•I will say our Christmas Day really was wonderful. We just hung out, snuggled, and played. The girls seemed to have lots of fun. We felt so loved-so many of our presents under the tree were sent from family members who said they just wanted to make sure we knew we were missed and loved. And Wendy fell asleep that night in like two seconds which was really really nice.
•I know-blah, blah, Christmas, Christmas, Christmas. Sorry! It’s just such a big focus in December! So this was really our first year of having kids on Christmas AND having them understand what was going on. I know traditions are going to develop and morph over the years, but I wanted to have some traditions in place. I think we did an okay job but man, oh man, I have GOT to get going a lot earlier next year. I feel like I crammed way too much that last week before Christmas and it really makes it harder to keep Christ at the center of Christmas. Here’s to being a more responsible adult next Christmas season!
•But I did feel good about the amount of sewing I got done this month! I made the girls matching jammies. And I made jogger pants for both Ben and I. And I had so much fun making everything! I would’ve had more fun if I wasn’t finishing hems 2 minutes before dinner on Christmas Eve, but whatever.
2018 was kind of a crazy year for us. We had a lot of big changes and unexpected happenings. But we’ve also been so blessed, especially that we have each other. During this coming year I’m hoping to get a little bit better at adulting, be a little more kind and a little more patient, and keep enjoying the sunshine.
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