I am thanking all my lucky stars that we are all *currently* healthy (knock on wood). Jack and I both had scares over the weekend with 1-day viruses we feared would turn out to be the flu. Luckily for Jack it was one day of mild nausea (likely from our traditional post-Christmas Johnny Rocket dinner/milkshake). And for me it was one day of intense fatigue/chills/muscle aches. I was certain I would be down and out for a full week like so many other loved ones who have been hit with the flu recently. I was grateful for the wake-up call of one day of sickness. I've been a little uptight about trying to make our home feel more livable after the move. It's the age-old reminder: the healthy woman has 100 wishes; the sick woman has one wish. So this week, I am grateful to be healthy in a home full of boxes and not-yet-organized cabinets. We have time. Unpacking isn't an emergency. Deep breaths.
We had a wonderful Christmas in our new home! We celebrated Christmas Eve at my Grandmother's home, hosted by Uncle Bryce. The food was delicious and the company was even better. The kids even had a great time, despite the other 5 children who were supposed to be there being stuck at home with the flu. Poor kiddos--what rotten timing. I was so grateful to get to share the Christmas Eve experience I used to have as a child with my own children. The highlight for me was my Grandma Roper reading Alice "Twas The Night Before Christmas" while Alice stood there, enthralled, through the entire reading. I loved showing our kids the Christmas decorations I used to "ooh" and "ahh" over. I loved getting a stomachache from eating so many chocolate toffees and chocolate oranges and sea-salt truffles at the dessert table. I loved the chaos of playing Christmas songs on the chimes together, and winning a can of vienna sausages playing Bingo. And then we loved going home and leaving out cookies and milk for Santa. Oreos saved the day--we've done much less Christmas baking than usual this year. Excited for next year to be more settled in and do more baking and decorating.
On Christmas morning, the kids slept until 7 a.m. and then came to wake us up, grins on their faces, telling us they already checked the stockings to see that no one got coal. We made our way out to see presents and stockings surrounding our fireplace and Christmas tree--a magical scene to break in our new home even more. Jared is the Christmas morning magic-maker in our family, at least during the moving season we've been in for the past few years. For me this comes with the price of letting go, because he does Christmas morning differently than I would if it were on my terms, but during a big move this is a tradeoff I gladly accept. And Jared does a wonderful job--really the only "problem" is he goes more extravagant than I would, but I just remind myself that the Christmas magic years won't last forever. "A bit too extravagant" and missing the mark on a few gifts isn't the worst problem.
Everyone had a nice Christmas, until I got up in arms because it was time to take some soup to my brother's family, who were all down with the flu. I was trying to get everyone into the car so we could go do this lovely, Christmas-spirit porch soup drop-off and they were all like, "U r bossy." And I was like, "Merry Christmas I'm going to bed. Do it urselves if u have a heart." To which they did do it themselves, and then my parents came over for dinner so I didn't end up going to bed after all. The Christmas drama😂 We ended up having a nice evening, and Jared had the next day off too for that lovely post-Christmas lounge day. We spent a lot of time in our finished Tree Room playing Mario Kart and Mario Party. Other than the little sick day blips, it's been a wonderful Christmas week in our new home. We continue to be smitten with our location, and we love looking out our windows to try and spot hawks, magpies, and the occasional deer. It's a peaceful view and we love it more all the time. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
