Well, I completely spaced last week. It's probably because it was New Year's and I wasn't paying a lot of attention to the days. That week between Christmas and when school starts is always a little weird.
On Christmas Eve, we did a Zoom call with James's parents, siblings, and grandparents. It was a little hectic, but we managed to act out the Nativity story without too many technological problems. It was also really nice to see everyone.
We had a wonderful Christmas morning. I love seeing my kids get excited about new things. The most popular was Samantha's shopping cart and kitty cat backpack. She plays with both constantly and didn't take the backpack off at all for the first few days. So cute. The boys have been really excited about their Minecraft books as well. James's theme for my presents was relaxation, so he gave me a weighted blanket, a book, and lots of chocolate. I'm still working on it right now. I've been reading The Far Side since I gave him the complete works (3 giant volumes that came in a box). I'm on the 3rd one now.
I gave James his main birthday present early (Catan: Starfarers) so we could play it over the break. He was so excited, and it's a really fun game. Each day of the break, we played games, watched movies, and enjoyed yummy snacks. It was mostly relaxing. I did retreat to my room some to hide under my new blanket and read. It REALLY helps.
We enjoyed New Year's Eve just relaxing, reading, and/or playing games. I kept my family's tradition of eating sub sandwiches. We also did eggnog shakes (not my fave, but everyone else loves them) and Chex mix. I was kid of "treated out" by the end of the break and just haven't been that hungry since school started back.
The first day back was hard, but we've settled into a good routine. I've started to "konmari" my house again. I just can't help it. It gives me something to do and helps me find projects to do, which is a good thing. I have a drawer full of fabric that I've started working on. So far, I've made two pairs of pajamas for Lewis and 7 cute masks. I don't even have plans for all of it yet, and that was stressing me out. As I thought about it, I realized that I don't need to rush through anything. I have a bad habit with hobbies where I go all out and get overwhelmed over something that's supposed to be fun. I have a list of blog posts to do and recipes to try, but I don't need to rush into those either.
As for New Year's resolutions, I only have 2 so far. One is to learn to truly accept change, starting with myself. I need to quit putting myself down, even if I'm not saying those thoughts out loud. My other goal is to work on learning to draw. I'm doing a class through Great Courses and will probably take a long time to finish. I loved art when I was in elementary school but didn't like it as much in high school and never did anything with it after that point. I think it would be fun to draw comics and collaborate with James. Humor is one of the most important things for coping with unpleasant things. 2021 is already somewhat unpleasant, unfortunately. (Attempted coup on the Capitol, anyone?)
I want normal life back.
I'll finish this monstrous post with a tender mercy. I've been studying a little about winter weather phenomena and decided to try to get pictures of certain things that don't happen too often. January 2nd and 3rd, one of those events happened: the most beautiful rime ice appeared on our trees, fence, and many other objects outside. I took some awesome pictures that can barely capture the beauty. Taking pictures has helped me appreciate this place a lot more because I have to pay attention.
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