Heads Visit, Christmas Break, Pt. 1

Well, I'm up way too early. I didn't do it on purpose, but I couldn't sleep past 4:30 for some reason and decided to quit trying at 5:30. Thankfully, I don't remember the last time I had such insomnia, and I have a lot of cooking to do, so I may as well get started after I finish updating this blog.

James's parents, Anna, and Joseph arrived last Thursday night after an eventful day. They were in a wreck on the way but were not injured. It did make them later than expected. We had pizza and opened presents together. Friday, Anna and Rex worked while Melodie and Joseph came over. During Samantha's nap, we put together an Oreo house (rather than gingerbread). It turned out cute and lasted till the next day or so before the kids destroyed it and ate it. I'm going to use the actual cookies as my crust for French silk pie.

Saturday, I had a Zoom meeting with my Schillemat cousins. It was really fun. Though not everyone comes, it's nice to see a pretty good group.

Monday, we went out to look at the Christmas star. With a telescope we recently got, we were able to see rings on Saturn and 4 of Jupiter's moons. So cool.

The kids had their last day of school on Tuesday. James worked from home that day since his school just barely reached outbreak status with 19 cases. We did a date in the cabin with yummy lunch, then played a game that he got for Christmas from his mom. He beat me again. Hmph. (7 Wonders Duels)

I'm only waiting on 2 packages now. One is really late, but it doesn't matter now since I bought something to replace it.

Lewis decided to be a stinker and hid a carton of ice cream in his room. Melodie had just bought it for me so I could make snowballs, but after an hour, it was completely melted. I stuck it back in the freezer to use for milkshakes and made "mudballs" instead by rolling burnt almond fudge ice cream in coconut and topping with cherries. I think they will taste divine. We are going to have a lot of delicious food.

Merry Christmas!

More of the Same, Waiting, Vaccine, Advent

My days have been pretty low-key. I finished getting presents for the Angel Tree and delivered those to the lady in charge. One of them didn't come in the mail yet, but I couldn't wait another 3 weeks for it, either, so I had James pick up the last things I needed while he was finishing up Christmas shopping on Monday. We also did our date then, since James has an activity with the young men tonight. He just got called as an advisor for the older boys.

I have been increasingly frustrated with waiting for packages to come. They are really inconsistent on when they show up. Some are here in 2 days (as promised), but a few are taking weeks to show up. Some are early, while others are ridiculously late and don't have any useful tracking information. I realize this is a first-world problem, but I can't help how anxious it makes me feel when things don't arrive when they said they would. None of the things in transit absolutely have to be here in time, but it's really frustrating not to know what's going on. It's just another small, annoying thing to add to a pretty annoying year.

I am really grateful that healthcare workers are starting to get the vaccine. Utah has said that teachers might get it before the end of the year. Though I'm glad for that, I worry every day that this is never really going to end. I'm also at the bottom of the list, pretty much, which means it could be summer before I can really relax. Just like with the packages, it's something I can't predict fully, and that bothers me. I have no control over this situation.

I felt inspired to make my own Christmas advent binder. I wanted one that would include all these things:

• specific prophecies about Jesus's birth (and when they happened)
• relevant verses from the Bible and Book of Mormon about the Christmas story
• everything in chronological order
• all of my favorite religious Christmas songs, not limited to the hymnal and Children's Songbook, including all of their verses
• everything in one place: the scriptures and songs all printed so I don't have to get out any additional books
• music pages facing each other so it's easier for the pianist. (Only songs with more than 2 pages will require a page flip!)

I am happy to say that after many hours of work, I have a mostly-complete product. I'm not going to share it this year because I want to go through all the scriptures and songs with my own family. I also would like to add cute pictures to the pages to make it more colorful. Next year, though, I plan on giving it as a gift for some family members and making the Drive files available to anyone who wants a copy. It's really nice to have family scriptures planned out for most of the month. It's also helped me study the Christmas story more in depth and appreciate all the wonderful music out there.

Christmas Movies, Plans, Reflection

Since I don't have a big project to work on right now, I've been watching Christmas movies every day with Lewis. I'm not one to start them in October, but I'm happy to watch one about every day in December. I like the cheesy Hallmark-ish romcoms in moderation. They make me happy, and they're clean. I do wish we had some snow since it's been so cold, but it's nice not to have to scrape off the car before going anywhere, not that I do that often. (I did replace the struts that hold the back door  of the Yukon open. It was terribly awkward to hold the door up during my last grocery pickup. They only cost me $35 on Amazon!)

We are officially spending Christmas here. I've received 3/4 of my online orders. One surprising thing about this year is that 100% of the things I ordered online FIT, even the bras. That's a tender mercy if I ever saw one. For each day of Christmas break, we will watch a Christmas movie together, play games in the cabin, have 2 fun snacks (a sweet and a savory), and do some kind of adventure if we're feeling up to it. Outside things are limited when it's so cold, but I could see doing some short hikes or fossil hunting.

In updating our personal history this week, I remembered all the good things that've happened this year. Hopefully, I can put together a funny Christmas card soon. I have an idea...

Catan, Online Shopping, Haircuts, Anxiety

We had a great Thanksgiving break. Every morning at 10:30, James, Joseph, Kenny, and I played a round of Catan: Explorers and Pirates. By Sunday, we learned the entire expansion and had the entire, expanded board set up. It was really fun, but it took a long time to play that last game: 3 hours! I love that we have a place to leave a big game out without the little kids messing it up.

I finished Christmas shopping for my family, the angel tree, and a service project at the kids' school. I even got something for James's birthday on Black Friday. Over the next 2 weeks, I'll be getting a ton of boxes. It's kind of fun to get things in the mail that aren't bills.

I went to the cabin for 10 minutes yesterday and came back to 2 children covered in markers (washable, thankfully) and who had cut each other's hair. I gave them baths but haven't fixed their haircuts yet. Lewis is going to get shaved nearly bald, but Samantha is going to need something more drastic. Basically, her hair looks like a "Karen" haircut instead of a mullet now, but I need to cut it more in the back so it blends together. Ugh. I was just thinking about how they were doing a little better and not destroying as many things, but they proved me wrong. We also had to take all the ornaments off the tree since they would not stop touching it. (We put it up last Friday and took all the ornaments off less than 24 hours later.) I don't regret decorating for Christmas a little early. The sparkly lights make me happy.

This year has been such a test of my patience. I think it's starting to wear Katie down, too. She broke into tears before school this morning. Recently, she's been hugging me like 12 times before she'll leave. She's one tough girl on the outside, but I think she worries a lot about the pandemic. If the boys do, they don't let on. I'm really looking forward to Christmas break. I think it will be a good distraction from this crap. I've been under so much stress this year that I don't really remember what it feels like to be completely calm.