Happy New Year!

Hello there and Happy New Year! 

We have roasted broccoli at least once a week for dinner, but Ina prefers raw broccoli (how?) and always asks me to save some for her before I put the rest in the oven. Sadly, I rarely remember...but I did that day and she was so excited. 

Like many others', our holiday break was spent at home staring at each other. I left the house twice to pick up grocery orders, but otherwise only escaped for a walk or run here or there. 

We sat by lots of fires,

played lots of cards and games, and ate lots of food. 

Nerts was the reigning favorite, but we also enjoyed Ticket to Ride, Sequence, Phase 10, and Gin Rummy. 

We opened presents on Christmas Eve with Nonnie, next to her tree in the basement and then came upstairs to open presents from us. 

I am strictly under the "less is more" camp for gifts, and I loved watching the girls open the 3 gifts I had picked out for them. They each received fur lined crocs, which have already proved themselves very useful when needing to quickly go outside. Ina also opened a few books in a series she is reading and a lighted picture hanger for her room. Cora has been begging for a little dragon in an egg (I paid way too much money for one, but she has played with it every day since) and she was so excited to get a dance back pack that matches the big girls. Mira opened a sparkly purse and a coloring book and keeps looking at the presents for other people still in the living room asking when we can open those.

The next morning Santa came and sent them on a scavenger hunt around the house to finally find their gifts on Cora's bed (they currently all sleep in Mira's room, so this was super convenient for Santa.)

Ina has been zooming around the house on her new roller skates. Although there have been a few wipe outs, she is getting better each day. 

Cora was excited about her bike, but way much more excited about the stuffed goat Santa had placed there last minute. Her class mascot is a goat and she asked for a live goat for Christmas. Ha!

We spent the rest of the day enjoying a lot of family time and eating food.

I vote for fajitas for Christmas dinner forever.

The next few days were all a blur of sleeping in, watching TV, and not doing much else. After what I would call a Herculean effort of getting the bikes and stroller and air pump out of the garage that is currently stuffed to the brim Nonnie's stuff, we went on a walk/ride around a lake close to our house.

It felt good to get out of the house, because the next few days looked like this. 

"Mom - is there going to be a next Christmas?"

My neice and nephews hung out with us for a few days while their parents were working. The kids had an absolute blast with their cousins and played all sorts of stuff.

What I remember most about those two days was getting lots of snacks. My sister joined us for New Year's Eve and although we didn't stay up until midnight we did have lots of fun.

(The wine glasses became popular choices after that night until one shattered all over the kitchen floor. Back to plastic we go.)

"Mom, I'm just askin', It's New Year's Eve. Can I have one more glass? Just askin!"

We went back to real life (work/school/activities) on Monday. While I have goals for 2021, what I want mostly is to continue the systems and routines I already have in place. Eat real food. Exercise every day. Budget. Pray/study the bible. Continue to empty the house of unneeded items. Build on my skills for work. Stay focused during work and limit distractions.

Two areas where I would love to improve this year are: 1. water intake - a constant struggle for me. I can be consistent for short periods of time, but I would love to develop habits/routine that make drinking enough water second nature. 2. anxiety - I never thought this would be an issue for me, yet here I am. One thing that helps is a daytime walk. 

Here's to more of those in 2021. 

I hope you all had a a great holiday break! Here's to better things in 2021.