Holly Jolly

We are enjoying a lot of holly jolly around here this week! One of our Christmas gifts arrived a little early:

We finally replaced our 20 year-old, handleless oven. We are loving our new one:

We are still learning it. It's slow to heat, but once it does it's amazingly consistent. We are also playing with the air fryer setting!

We have also committed to family games every night. Buddy the Elf also has us building a lego North Pole, which has been fun:

I made this cute little guard tower:

Allison came over last night for gingerbread pancakes and Christmas movie night:

We are completely ready for Christmas, so I am loving these slow days filled with family time!
 

A Success!

This weekend we celebrated the first annual neighborhood cookie walk! Over 30 houses placed treats at the end of their driveways:

And over 100 neighbors walked the neighborhood collecting treats:

 The HOA Board (including Brad) passed out coffee and cocoa at the parks, and everyone had a fabulous time! It was a low stress, high fun event, and we are already plotting what neighborhood fun might be next!

Maybe I am a Potter

 Yesterday I went to pick up some pottery I had made. Two of the pieces didn't fire well, which was a real bummer since they were meant to be Christmas gifts! 

However, I had several that did, and I actually get teary when I saw a note on one of my pieces. Someone has seen it and wants to buy four! I'm still in shock.

Pottery is a hobby, but I never felt like a potter until yesterday. 

Here is the other take away. Support artists, which I am almost ready to call myself. Creating is hard, and when someone sees a piece and loves it, well, there is no better feeling. Offering to purchase, well, there really aren't words.

He Just Goes

 We had our student teacher celebration last night, which meant I was on campus late. Just as I was packing up, Mom called. As soon as I heard her voice I knew something was wrong. Someone had backed into her car at the gas station. There was damage, and she was shook. I heard her trying to talk to the other driver, and it wasn't going well.

I called Brad, told him what happened and where she was, and before I could ask I heard, "I'm on my way." 

He went and stayed with her while the officer took the report. He checked the car to be sure it was just body damage--it was. He followed her home. 

I will be forever grateful that his first instinct is always to show up. Whenever anyone calls, he just goes. He's fiercely protective, and I'm so glad he's mine.

The Weekend We Needed

 This weekend was a bit of a blur.

Evan spent the weekend being a sloth. He is not used to full days of schools followed by full practices and meets. It's a lot of people-ing, and he finally got tired. He had a forfeit at his meet Friday, came home, and just crashed. He is ready for this week, but we are so glad he had a chance to rest a bit.

Issa had her Kaleidoscope Christmas party Friday and rehearsals Saturday.  She babysat Sunday afternoon, but we managed to squeeze in baking cookies for the neighbors, which was important to her.

Brad and I managed a data afternoon yesterday to finish the Christmas shopping, order a new stove, and actually have dinner just the two of us. Our new stove arrives on December 20, and we are so excited. Our old one has been inconsistent, and the oven handle fell off last week. We have replaced the handle once, but it was just time to call it in. It was 21 years old; I would say that was a good long run.

This is my last day on campus (although I will work the rest of the week from home), and the kids just have this week left of school. I think we are going to make it!

Who I Want to Be

This is the mom of adult kids I want to be:

I went to mom's to wait for a repair man yesterday. I let myself in, grabbed her favorite blanket, and raided the pantry where I found my favorite snack. It made me very happy, and I sent her that picture.

I want that for my kids. Even when they are grown and have homes of their own, I want them to be able to walk into ours, know it is still home, and know they will always find what they need. 

 

He Did It!

Evan had his first away wrestling meet last night, and he also got his first pin:

He fought hard through the first two period and got it in the third. He was also the first from his team to score.

We are so stupid proud of him. It's hard to start a new sport in eighth grade, but he is working hard, and it's paying off! 

I emailed his coach last night to say thank you and also ask for a resource to try to understand the rules. Everything I was reading was just confusing, and I really want to learn to be a better wrestling mom. He graciously sent me a video, and now I will actually know what I'm watching tomorrow! Here's to the rest of the season!

 

The Tree is Trimmed

We, and by we I mean Issa and I, finished decorating the tree last night:

We put the lights on last week, and we finished the popcorn and cranberries Sunday. We have been a bit nervous because Jet really has enjoyed pulling lights off the tree, but we decided to add the ornaments last night:

Issa worked very hard to get any of her little kid ornaments on the front of the tree:

We also left anything breakable off this year, which meant some of them got to be displayed in the armoire:

I held my breath when I walked downstairs this morning, but not a single ornament had been knocked off. The cats seem to have lost interest not that there is more on it, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that holds!
 

What A Weekend

We had a really crazy weekend, and I did a really horrible job of taking pictures! 

Friday afternoon started with Evan's first wrestling meet! He had a scrimmage Wednesday, but he got a forfeit. Friday, we actually go to wrestle twice:

We are so proud of him for starting a new sport, and he's starting in his weight class! He lost both of his match ups, but he wrestled really hard and was happy with how he did. He has some things he wants to work on this week, which is great. I'm still learning how to be a wrestling mom; I don't love watching him get pinned, so I'm going to need him to do more pinning this week.

Issa and left before the meet was over to get ready for her dress rehearsal:

Rehearsal went really well, and I love watching her do her thing!

Saturday, we went to the Magic of Lights. It's a drive through Christmas light display, and we had a blast. We loved the toy zone:

And we were really impressed by the 12 Days of Christmas. I did take pictures of all 12 days, but these were my favorites:

Sunday Issa danced in the Christmas parade, but I forgot to take a single picture! Her friend stood with us and took some, so I just need to snag those!

It was a really busy weekend, but it was also a lot of fun! I guess that pretty much describes December.

 

A New Outlook

After months of waiting, we finally got our new kitchen door installed this week:

Our old sliding door was literally falling apart. Brad had a mallet handy to tap the frame back on the glass, and the sliding function had become lift and pray. We are thrilled with our new door, especially since we ditched all the little squares and have just clear glass:

 The kitchen feels so much bigger, and we love being able to see the yard even more! Now we just need to stop panicking because we think we left the door open.

The Beginning of Holly Jolly

Following tradition, we headed to the Fire Department Friday to be there right when they opened the tree lot! They had some more unusual trees this year, and Brad really wanted one:

I think Issa's face sums up how that went. We did use Evan as a measuring stick to be sure we got the perfect sized tree:

And we did!

Nana also found a huge tree:

We got Nana's up:

And then ours:

After a pizza dinner, we got out the Christmas dishes:

And Saturday Issa and I got the rest of the decorations out, with some help from Inks:

As always the teddy bear tree was first, and it moved downstairs this year:

I love this time of the year, and I love unpacking all of the memories with each decoration!
 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a really, really lovely Thanksgiving! Issa and I spent a lot of Wednesday prepping, which made Thursday a dream. I love our little table filled with family dishes and linens (and a vintage set of plates I bought from a friend's antique shop):

The gluten-free pie crusts actually cooperated, too!

We finished cooking while watching the Macy's parade, and then Shannon and Mom joined for lunch:

Brad did the traditional carving with an assist from Issa. My turkey got finished nearly an hour early, but it was probably the best I've made:

We also have Mom her annual Nespresso Advent calendar:

She was delighted:

We spent the afternoon playing board games, watching Christmas movies, and just being. It was truly lovely. 

 

A Full Kitchen

This year, Brad joined the HOA Board with the sole goal of trying to move the Board to be more community minded. Pre-covid, we had a pretty active little neighborhood, and now we are trying to bring that back.

Last night, we hosted a group of Board members and couple of extras to start planning our first big event: a holiday cookie walk. People will put treats out at the end of their driveways, and neighbors will wander the neighborhood looking at the lights and enjoying treats. The board will have hot beverages at the two playgrounds. It should be fun!

But what was surreal was having people gathered in my kitchen again. We did a got cocoa bar and cookies. We had to pull in extra chairs. At times I was distracted because there were so many conversations in my kitchen. It felt good to gather again, and I can't wait to see this event come to life.

What a Weekend!

We had an absolutely incredible weekend! Friday night, we headed back to the Chinese Lantern Festival, and Nana joined this year:

We thought there might be a new lantern or two, but we were shocked to discover it is a completely new display every year. The first segment was all birds, which made Nana very happy:

Where the cherry blossoms had been last year, a huge imperial palace stood:

Very rarely do the kids play at exhibits any more, but they both had a blast Friday night making stars change colors:

And popping smoke filled bubbles:

We got some great pictures with some of the lanterns:

The dinosaur lanterns had us all having too much fun and laughing way too hard:

It was a very cold night, but it was so fun. It will definitely be an annual tradition now!

Saturday, Issa and I went to DPAC to see Hairspray:

We had started at Mellow Mushroom and did some Christmas plotting. It was just a fun night out!

And we ended the weekend at the ballet:

They did Balenchine's Emeralds and then an original work to Beethoven's ninth that broke my brain. In addition to a full orchestra, they had a full chorus singing. Almost the entire company was on stage for Ode to Joy, and it was truly spectacular. I've never been to a ballet that also had a chorus, but I hope they do another soon!

We all have two days of school before we start the Thanksgiving cooking, and we can't wait!