Confession--I just tried to read through last week's blog post to remember where we left off, and I couldn't make it through because it was so long. I've been WORDY with my posts lately. I'm a written processor and don't keep a journal anymore, so I fear the blog has been getting allll my thoughts and feelings. One of my New Year's resolutions is to work on brevity in the blog posts. This week I'm going to try just pictures with captions:
^^Not my best picture, but I've really enjoyed reconnecting with my high school bestie and her 4 little ones since moving here. Her oldest boys are 4 and 5 and they play really well with Jack. We went to a nickel arcade together and had a great time, and I got to swing by and see Jared's office afterward.
^^Christmas Eve nativity at my parents' home. We had a wonderful dinner with family and then played white elephant and did a nativity. Alice was in her element all evening, grabbing rolls from off the counter and roaming around like she owned the place. She was a big fan of the singing. I love the independence my kids take on when cousins and lots of family are around.
^^Christmas Eve! Next year Jared and I need to make an effort to either (a) assemble complicated gifts ahead of time, or (b) accept that we will be up well past midnight and get excited about it/make it a party. Jared loves making a grand display and setting up for Christmas morning, but he does not love staying up late. And this year we had to put together a 7-foot basement trampoline on Christmas Eve. And I hadn't wrapped a single one of Jared's presents ahead of time. It was worth it and magic! But our Christmas Eve felt stressful instead of fun. We only get so many Christmases with little ones, so next year we'll make an effort to figure out what we need to do ahead of time to make Christmas Eve and Day a joyful time for everyone.
This year was always going to be wonky because we spent all of November and much of December in the thick of moving chaos instead of prepping for Christmas. Grace for that. But in the end, Jack and Alice were so happy and had their best Christmas yet. Jack was shocked by the trampoline and kept saying, "Thank you so much mom and dad!" all day long🥺 And then Jack and Alice spent an entire hour-long quiet time playing in the basement together for the first time ever. Three cheers for that.
^^It was so fun to wake up to a white Christmas with snow lightly falling out our window since we're a little higher up in the mountains than most of the rest of the valley.
^^On Christmas Day we somewhat spontaneously had a lot of my family over for dinner. Everyone brought some pizza supplies and we made pizza and the kids disappeared into our "toymageddon" basement for a nice long time. Then we busted out the chimes since we ran out of time on Christmas Eve, and exchanged a few gifts. It was a 10/10.
I haven't read much by Gretchen Rubin, but a couple weeks ago I came across a Gretchen Rubin post where she said that if she is having a hard time deciding between two options that are both good choices, she always goes with the option that will make her life fuller. I've been thinking about that a lot over this holiday season. This move to Utah has been really hard. Not the living in Utah part, but the actual logistical parts, like packing, new schools and people, big feelings, etc. that come with a move. There have been times where part of me has wished we had just stayed put in Washington because the boat is rocking pretty hard getting used to these new waters. But when I think about what our life would have looked like staying settled in Washington versus moving here . . . being here surrounded by so much family for us and our children is the much fuller life, by leaps and bounds. So we're going to persevere through the rough bedtimes and new schedules and disorganized house! Because look at these little cousin ladies jumping on the trampoline! I can't wait for them to grow up together!
^^The day after Christmas we walked around to see the lights at Traverse Mountain and then tucked into Johnny Rockets for dinner. I think this was our first sit-down dinner as a family of 4 in a restaurant that went really well and was enjoyable for everyone! The casual, family-friendly diner feel helped a lot. Our food was great, and it just felt cozy and happy to be there together the day after Christmas. Next time we'll bring nickels for the jukebox. We feel lucky to live near TONS of family-friendly eateries and parks, museums, etc. We were worried about moving away from the small-town life we've known and loved for the past 6 years but we're taking it pretty well. It helps that we live up near trails so I can still access peace and quiet in nature pretty easily.
^^Trampoline game night date with my boy! Games are his love language.
