There are any number of ‘best of 2019!’ lists that I feel like I should be writing… but alas, I haven’t done enough reflecting to get those published tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Possibly on the 31st. Most likely I’ll finish them in like July and then won’t publish them at all. Shrug.
Anyway!
Popping on this space to say MERRY CHRISTMAS! And HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope your holidays were everything you wanted them to be.
It’s a particularly crazy time of year in our household because Tim’s birthday is on Christmas Eve (or shall I say that Christmas Eve falls on Tim’s birthday?) so it feels like I have a lot of extra prep work to do and one less day to get it all done. Plus this year I had some *actual* work due the week of Christmas, too. But I digress, the point being, it was absolute chaos the whole week/weekend leading up to the 24th, but then the big days happened, everyone had a blast, and life has moved on!
Highlights included:
+ Tim’s birthday breakfast. We invited a few friends over and fed them breakfast. It was a super easy morning with quiche from Costco, croissants, homemade cinnamon rolls (Pioneer Woman’s recipe, of course), fruit, and pancakes. Hosting is not a spiritual gift of mine, but socializing is!
+ Christmas Eve church service. I will always love a good holiday service. The best songs. The best sermon. The best reason to celebrate… Jesus! Plus, this is a fun service because there’s always a ‘snowball fight’ at the end of church. Clara loved it and Isabelle would have loved if she had stayed awake for it. I kid you not, the entire church was flinging fake snowballs at each other and Isabelle was passed out in her chair. Girlfriend takes napping seriously and no amount of fake snow is going to wake her up. We were in the SECOND ROW of church, people. The singers were practically on top of us. It was loud. Kids were running. Isabelle was bothered by absolutely none of that nonsense and I couldn’t even rouse her enough to get her to walk to the lobby by herself. Girlfriend is 3.5 and she is NOT DROPPING THAT NAP. But if I try to get her to sleep at home in her own bed at naptime? Absolutely not.
+ Christmas adventure. We go sledding on Christmas – which is one of my better life choices/traditions. We’ve spent four Christmases in the PNW and the first two years we went snowshoeing. Lesson learned – that is not a great idea for our family. (The first year we went snowshoeing on Christmas I actually cancelled the entire holiday afterwards, and I just re-read that blog post and cracked up! What in the world was I even thinking?) Last year we transitioned to sledding and we aren’t looking back. We went to Hyak and I highly recommend it if you live in the Seattle area! Make sure you buy that Sno-Park pass and get there early – there was almost no parking there on Christmas afternoon!
+ German Christmas dinner. Lilly’s parents were in town and they hosted us at their Airbnb rental for a delicious (German) Christmas dinner! Since we don’t have family in the area, it feels extra special to be invited by another family to spend the holidays with them. Plus, they fed us, gave us presents, and made sure our glasses were full of gluhwein! They spoiled the girls with a lot of attention and it was just a really lovely evening.
Now, as you know, we’re in that random time between Christmas and New Years in which I have no idea what to actually do with myself. There’s nothing on our calendar. Like, nothing. We have no where we need to be. Nothing needs to get done. We aren’t working… The girls aren’t going to school… What is everyone else doing?! No one knows. It seems as if a lot of people have decided to be present with their families and aren’t on social media directing the rest of us on how to live our best lives. Or maybe people aren’t posting as much because they’re like me – eating leftovers, watching football, reading books, wondering if they should finish that Netflix show they started months ago… etc.
Well, soon it will be 2020 and then we can REALLY get intentional about not wasting our time and living our best lives! Until then… enjoy the last few (slothful) days of 2019!
