I started this post on Wednesday while the girls were at dance, didn't finish, and then as soon as we got home I was swept into the flurry of holiday preparation. It's all over now and we had a lovely Christmas, but for the sake of "beginning at the beginning" I'm going to start by finishing what I started here, and then do a Christmas recap in a separate post later. Here we go!
Well hi! Merry Christmas week to you! I didn't do my usual Wednesday blogging last week because J had Nature School, which only happens once a month, but when it does I have to basically drop her off at Nature School, race back home and pick up the big girls, race over to dance and drop the big girls off for ballet, race back to Nature School and pick up J, then race back to dance to drop J off, usually a little late, for her tap class. So zero time to myself for blogging on those days. Usually I just sit in numb exhaustion for a few minutes, before it's time to take them all home again. J enjoys her Nature Class, but our Wednesdays are already busy enough, so that I'm not sure we will be able to continue with it in the spring. We shall see.
We have been busily preparing for the holiday, and enjoying some fun activities. Although it feels much less busy than it usually would with almost no holiday gigging for me in December, we have had plenty going on.
Here is the Friday of my students' recital week-- treating myself to my favorite junk food meal... a bacon, egg and cheese bagel from Dunks and a hazelnut iced coffee with both cream and sugar. Indulgent! But it meant I didn't have to make lunch after a long week, so I say amen to that. The girls all got a sandwich too, minus the iced coffee. You can see their school books and sandwich wrappers all over the table. Such is our life!
I love how the girls (the younger three, anyway... my eldest is, as is appropriate for her age, leaving behind some childish things) will get on a streak of playing a certain thing and it becomes their whole life for several days. Pictured above is a scenario where our entire collection of Barbies participated in a seemingly never-ending game of Werewolves of Millers Hollow. This game is more fun when you have lots of people and so, in this COVID era of not being able to have friends over, Barbies make a good substitute. Apparently, it was a "fancy dress" game party. :)
Grandma and Grandpa sent us an ornament-making kit, and it provided hours of fun! I don't have pictures of the finished ornaments (other than J's expertly-colored Santa and Mrs. Clause), but trust me, they turned out super cute.
Our house, as you may know, is super tiny, and our living room doubles as a dining room, school room, and den, so a large Christmas tree is not really in the cards until we move to a bigger place. I picked up this tiny one at Stop and Shop for $20 and it served us very well! I brought it home on a night when M was exhausted from a long work week and I was exhausted from a long homeschool and teaching week, but the girls were so excited to decorate it that they found the crate of lights and decorations in the basement by themselves, hauled it upstairs, and did all the tree-trimming while M and I just laid on the bed in our room. It sounds a little sad, I guess, but the #2020exhaustion is real. When I woke up the next morning they were gathered very sweetly around the tree with the lights on, admiring their handiwork, and all the "stockings were hung by the chimney with care". Those girls are pretty great, I tell you.
We had our first really big snowstorm in this house last week, and so M and I got a taste of what it feels like to remove 18 inches of snow from this driveway. It's a small driveway, but it wore me out pretty good!
Hours upon hours of play for the girls, of course.
As with all December snows, we really enjoyed it, because we're not sick of it yet. Ask me again come March and I'll have a different story for you. :)
Cozy nights by the fire eating a yummy supper and watching The Mandolorian! (Again I have to highly recommend this show for all Star Wars fans... our faces were completely melted by this last episode!!!! Whoa!!!!)
J made this winter solstice candle and it really brightened up our day on Monday, the darkest day of the year:
J also had her final Zoom ballet class of the year, which was a pajama and dance game party, and her teacher read the Nutcracker book to them! She enjoyed it so much.
One of the things we have been missing about our old house is the perfectly great sledding slope we had in our backyard there. Our new town is really flat-- great for running for me! But not so great for sledding. Lately, though, we found a nearby park that has an awesome hill, and so after the snowstorm we went twice in one week and had a blast both times!
That's all I got for right now... stay tuned for a Christmas update! Wishing you all a very peaceful, healthy, and Merry Christmas.
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