December/Christmas 2017

Confession:  I'm writing this in February of 2018 and will be post-dating it.  I wanted to jot some memories of the holidays down but between the time that has passed and the congested head I'm battling from my current state of sickness, I don't have it in me to do much.  So here is a fly-by overview of the month and its festivities, mostly in picture form.  

Pre-Christmas Snow:

For the first time that I can ever recall, we got a pre-Christmas snow right here in Georgia.  It caused us to cancel all plans for the weekend and sent our holiday spirits soaring.  It was absolutely gorgeous and I couldn't get enough of the view of the Christmas lights under the blanket of white.  The kids had a wonderful time playing in it the next morning, but didn't last long without waterproof gear and gloves.  

Other pre-Christmas highlights:

Our church partnered with Path Project (the 2017 Timber Trek beneficiary) to put on a Christmas party at a local mobile home community.  Our small group went to serve, and the kiddos of the group did a fantastic job taking lead on the craft table!

Packing shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child

Packing shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child

Our first annual holiday movie marathon and family room camp out

Visit with Santa 2017

Visit with Santa 2017

The kids' letters to Santa 2017

Audrey's and Luke's class parties.  Audrey's was a storybook theme with a book at each station and an activity/craft to go along with it.  Luke's was a gingerbread man theme.  Both of them were a big success and the kids had so much fun.

And then came more celebrating!  Six celebrations in six consecutive days.  We were tired by the time it was all said and done, but it was a lot of fun and thank the Lord we were all healthy and well!

Christmas Celebration #1:  Our friends the Taylors at our house

We had the Taylors over for lunch and exchanged gifts.  The kids had a blast like they always do and the adults sat around and caught up about everything under the sun.  They left all too soon and we said what we always say..."I wish they lived closer and we got to do that more often."  

Christmas Celebration #2:  David's mom's side of the family at his aunt's house

The biggest highlight of this celebration was getting to meet two week old Baby Carter, David's cousin's newest addition.  The kids were absolutely enamored.  I was too, even after he projectile pooped on David's aunt and I caught some stray friendly fire.  We had a great time eating, laughing, and cooing over Carter.  

Christmas Celebration #3:  David's parents at their house

After church on Christmas Eve morning, we went to David's parents' house and celebrated Christmas with them.  The kids had a blast hunting for the Christmas pickle in the tree, opening their new air hockey table, and working on football plays in Luke's new GT football uniform.  Audrey got a new camera and loved posing everyone with their gifts.  They also loved giving their grandparents these shirts.  After lunch, a round of air hockey, and an indoor snowball fight, we headed home to get ready for Santa.

Christmas Celebration #4:  Us at our house

We spent most of the day lazily opening gifts and sorting through the loot that Santa left.  In my never-ending quest to pull together a special Christmas gluten-free breakfast, I made crepes.  Everyone loved them...except Audrey wasn't too keen.  The kids got such a kick out giving each other the gifts they'd chosen, which was very cool to watch.  Luke also put his new bug vacuum to work right away and found three specimen to suck up and show us.  (We're still looking for the gnat.)  David loved his Boston puzzle and new puzzle mat and everyone in the family somehow ended up with new slippers this year.  We played all the new games Santa brought - Battleship, Sorry, and Life - and worked on Audrey's new lightbox and Luke's new Train My Dino.

In the early evening, my brother and niece came over and we ate a nice dinner in the dining room and let the kids visit and play until bedtime.  It was a fantastic Christmas Day full of sweet memories.

Christmas Celebration #5:  My mom and brothers at our house

The next morning my mom, brother, sister-in-law, and nephews joined David, the kids, and me along with my other brother and niece at our house to continue celebrating.  We tried to keep the food simple and just had hot cheese dip, fruit, chips, a Chick-fil-A nugget tray, and Christmas cookies (I also attempted crockpot hot chocolate that was WAY too rich and no one liked...) We wanted to focus on the time together outside of the kitchen.  The kids did great patiently taking turns opening their gifts.  One of my favorite parts was watching everyone unwrap the custom frame I had made for them with a favorite quote of my late grandfather's:

We sent my mom and middle brother and his family on their way and let the other cousins play outside in the warm sunshine before heating up a feast of leftovers and watching the Trolls Holiday Special.

Christmas Celebration #6:  My dad and stepmom at their house

Our sixth and final celebration was at my dad and stepmom's house with my brothers and their families again.  We had a delicious brunch, took pictures, and let the kids check out my dad's Polar Express train set before diving into the presents.  Everyone spoiled their dog Sophie and Audrey and Luke jammed out with Grandpa to "Little St. Nick"...a shared favorite.  We hit the road in the early afternoon, but not before the kids got a lesson on the right way to crack walnuts by a real wood fire.  

It was a wonderful December full of so many awesome events, parties, and traditions continued.  Even after all the Christmas celebrating, the partying continued with my birthday and New Year's Eve.

I celebrated my birthday with a good run and a Chick-fil-A biscuit.  Later we did some shopping and ate dinner at Provino's at about 4:45pm, as one does when one reaches a certain age.  It was a wild and crazy night, for sure.

The next day, we closed out the year with our friends the Kirkleys as we rang in 2018 with London at 7pm and were in bed by 9pm.  Early to bed and early to rise, as they say...

Here's to another happy and healthy December in the books.  

Many wishes for a wonderful 2018!

2017 Resolutions Recap

This year has been the most goal-oriented and productive year I think I've ever had.  If you've read my blog for any length of time you know why:  PowerSheets.  I'll spare you the sales pitch, especially because I think they're already sold out, but they are definitely the main reason behind my progress.  

I didn't do them perfectly (a couple of months I skipped completely!), but when I did take the time to "work the system", it paid off in big and small ways. 

As a reminder, here were my 8 "Big Picture" goals for the year:

1.  Spiritual Growth 
2.  Marriage Growth  
3.  Continue to stay on track with health and fitness (more races)
4.  Declutter (goal of room-by-room, closet-by-closet, drawer-by-drawer)
5.  Have some adventures (travel, try new things locally)
6.  Improve money management 
7.  Love and serve others well individually and as a family
8.  Reflect and celebrate more (specific events planned, blog more, stay on top of photo albums)

Each of those came with much more detailed goals and action steps.  Some of them are too personal for me to dive into, but I will share a few small victories along with areas I'm still working on:  

1.  Spiritual Growth - I read more of the Bible this year than ever before (as in, reading the actual Word, not Bible studies) and loved it.  What still needs improvement:  consistency, memorization.  

2.  Marriage Growth  - David and I did pretty well with date nights, we took a trip together, and we did a marriage small group study that gave us a few new communication tools.  What still needs improvement:  devotionals together.

3.  Continue to stay on track with health and fitness:  I did very well with workouts this year.  I trained for and completed two more triathlons, including my first terrifying open water swim.  I also discovered some really delicious healthy food choices like hummus and kale chips.  What still needs improvement:  This time of year, my diet does!  It's unfair, but it doesn't matter one bit that you're killing it with workouts if you're still eating dessert three times a day.  

4.  Declutter - I did a complete room-by-room, closet-by-closet, drawer-by-drawer decluttering of the entire house.  It. Was.  AWESOME.  What still needs improvement:  Several spaces I did at the beginning of last year need redoing again already.  

5.  Have some adventures - We traveled a bunch (Savannah, Chattanooga, Greenville, Callaway Gardens, Boston, New Smyrna Beach) and did some really cool things locally (hiked Tallulah Gorge, canoed down a new part of the Chattahoochee, tried new restaurants, and attended some local events.)  What still needs improvement:  Nothing!  More of the same, please!

6.  Improve money management - We met a few goals.  What still needs improvement:  detailed tracking.

7.  Love and serve others well - We continued serving at church through leading small group and greeting, did another year of the Timber Trek, and I took on a new role with the PTA Board as Community Outreach Co-chair.  We did several projects as a family, which was really cool.  I also attempted to do a better job of showing up for friends in tangible ways (providing a meal, sending encouraging notes, etc.), but that is definitely what still needs improvement.

8.  Reflect and celebrate more - We hosted a big anniversary party and two baby showers, I blogged more (barely...but more), and I mostly stayed on top of photo albums.  What needs improvement:  maybe all of the above, but I don't think it's going to happen.  

It's been a year of great goal progress, for sure.  If I'm being completely honest, it's also been too hectic of a year, and I need to make some adjustments.  But I'll get into that a little more when I share my 2018 list later.

Remember, if you don't have PowerSheets, you can look into Lara Casey's or Gretchen Rubin's sites to find plenty of useful tools to help you get started.  Good luck and Happy New Year!

Books I Read in 2017

I read 31 books this year, which is more than I have in the past several years!  

My biggest, simplest tip for how to squeeze in more reading:  download a reading app on your phone (many county libraries offer free access!)  Every time you're tempted to open social media, read instead.  It's also a much better, more peaceful way to go to sleep at night.

Here is my list, with those I recommend asterisked:

• Wild and Free 
• The Invention of Wings* 
• Notes from a Blue Bicycle*
• The All Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion* 
• Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man
• Made to Crave (for a second time)*
• Everybody's Got Something*
• The Year of Pleasures
• Grace Based Discipline
• Scrappy Little Nobody
• A Year of Living Danishly
• Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
• Let's Take the Long Way Home
• The Whole Town is Talking
• The Bookshop on the Corner*
• The Secret of Sara Revere*
• The 5th of March*
• Cape Cod
• The Nightingale* 
• Raising Grateful Kids in an Entitled World*
• When Breath Becomes Air 
• Little Beach Street Bakery
• Summer at the Little Beach Street Bakery
• Finish*
• Magic of Motherhood*
• Church of the Small Things*
• Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake
• Simplified Life*
• Love Does*
• Unseen
• Organized Simplicity

5 Year Anniversary of Our House

Earlier in December we celebrated the 5th anniversary of living in our house.  When we moved in, Audrey was three and Luke was 9 months.  That seems like a lifetime ago.

I started to write a list of all of the projects we've done since we signed the closing papers, but it got so overwhelming that I stopped.  The short version is that we've painted nearly every room; tiled, carpeted, or refinished nearly every floor; and changed nearly every light fixture and piece of door hardware.  We extended our deck, have done several huge landscape overhauls, had the exterior painted, and had a new roof and two new HVAC units installed.  We've decorated and and redecorated several rooms in big and small ways and organized and reorganized every single drawer, closet, and cabinet multiple times.  And of course there is our most recent and biggest renovation of moving the laundry room upstairs and creating a mudroom in its former space.  

All of this has most certainly made the house feel more like our own.  You can't walk into a room without seeing evidence of our family and our style.  We have poured our blood, sweat, and tears into every corner of this house...literally, in many instances.

But here is something that dawned on me recently:  If we lost every bit of it tomorrow, we'd be just fine.  We'd be devastated, of course, and heartbroken.  But we'd be okay.  Because more than the home we've created for ourselves over the past five years, we have developed a community here that is indestructible.  

Last weekend we drove over to Cobb County to celebrate Christmas at David's aunt and uncle's house.  For years whenever we crossed into the county line, it felt like coming home.  I was born in Smyrna, moved to Powder Springs/Kennesaw area in second grade, moved downtown Atlanta for my Freshmen year of college, and then moved among various apartments in Smyrna until David and I got married and settled in Gwinnett during my senior year of college.  Cobb held all of my major life moments and memories.  I would drive onto the 75 North exit off of 285 and immediately search the skies for the familiar and comforting signs of the C-130s flying training loops out of Dobbins Air Reserve Base.  

I'm not sure when it first happened, but that feeling hasn't hit me in awhile.  Cobb County will always have a special place in my history and in my heart, but it isn't home to me anymore.  My home is now Gwinnett.  

It took a very, very long time for that to hold true...thirteen years in fact.  When I think of why, it all points to establishing community and traditions here.  It's moments that have taken place inside the walls of our house of course, but it's also all the big and small ones that have taken place outside of them too.  It's the local park where we go see fireworks with friends on the 4th of July.  It's running into people you know at the grocery store (always without make-up on, of course).  It's chatting with the owner at a local deli about his family.  It's dropping off borrowed items in a neighbor's mailbox.  It's looking forward to seeing the crazy Christmas decorations at that one house on the carpool route.  It's memories from annual festivals and celebration desserts at the usual spot and knowing the best hill to catch a beautiful sunset. 

When I go out for my early morning run around these oh-so-hilly neighborhood streets, I think about the families inside. Even though we have a huge neighborhood, between the kids' school and the Timber Trek, I know quite a few of them now.  Thoughts about them drift through my mind as I plod past their driveway:  "I bet their daughter is home from college this week."  "I wonder how her mom is doing."  "I need to text her about that recipe she asked for."  "I wonder how her son did in his tennis match."

If anything ever happened to the house we've made here, the community would join in with our families and carry us through.  I know because I've watch them - us - do it for so many others over the years.  

I adore our house and all the work we've done to it to make it ours.  But what I really love is how much the people around it have come to mean to me.  There is no where else I'd rather be.