{SQT} Holiday Recap

It’s time for my first random Quick Takes of the year. I’ll back it up and bring you up to date on all the very non-exciting things happening here.

First, I know that you’re all wondering what happened to those chestnuts I mentioned two weeks ago. Well, I didn’t ruin them during the roasting process, but I did need to boil them to make them soft enough to cook into chestnut stuffing. The outcome was pretty good, so I’m game to try it again with a few tweaks next year.

Overall, our Christmas was fun and low stress. We started opening gifts at 8 a.m. which works great when our goal is to still make it to 10:30 a.m. mass, and the teenagers are mostly coherent. The kids all shop for each other at Five Below (a step above Dollar Tree) and even though I’ve tried to introduce the “Secret Santa” idea (i.e. each kid buys for one other kid) they all insist every year on buying gifts for all their siblings. Their gifts are the first to be opened after stockings and they’re always so excited it makes me happy even as I inwardly cringe at all the plastic trinkets. We always snack on panetone for breakfast and after Mass I put out a selection of meats, cheeses, fruit, crackers, etc. that we snack on until dinner. This year we had duck, as we didn’t eat it on Martinmas per our usual custom (Edie was confirmed that evening). It was a relaxing day made special by the fact that Tony’s parents were with us. The kids liked having their grandparents here on the day for a change.

I got a ton of comfy socks and longe wear. My favorite pieces were a pair of joggers with Our Lady of Guadalupe all over them, plus a sweatshirt with the original My Little Ponies across the front. Teddy also got me these epic slipper socks that don’t slide or make my feet sweat. I feel like if I’m still in quarantine for another six months, I’m going to be at my most comfortable.

We visited with my parents on the 28th and 29th and spent the rest of the 12 days at home watching Christmas movies, listening to and singing carols, baking tons of Christmas cookies, and playing games. Since our town cancelled all New Year’s Eve plans (no giant blueberry drop!) we stayed in and enjoyed the tons of fireworks all our neighbors set off. “Teddy come drive to the back door and look out here! Wait, everyone to the front door you can see a few different displays from there! Oh, quick get on the screened in porch our neighbor across the street is shooting off some more rockets!”

At some point, I went ahead and redesigned my blog. I’d planned to update things for the new year, but after a technical issue convinced me I’d need to switch themes, I wound up just redoing the header and various images a bit earlier than planned. I wanted to pick some image that summed up the name and feel of my blog and when I came across the sketch of a classical statue of a women with the top of her head missing, I thought that summed up my brain at the end of most days so I went with it.

Tony created a game and finally put it online for people to try. It’s based on an idea Byron gave him years ago. The goal is to guide your train to the station by laying track in front of it while avoiding stationary obstacles like trees and water, as well as roving, angry beavers. Give it a try!

I’ve created a bunch of different books through the years. Most are on sale right now and many are perfect for helping you with whatever New Year’s resolutions you may have in regards to planning or homeschooling. Check them out in the shop and if you order printed copies of my planners or homeschooling audit workbook, you can take an additional 10% off the sale price by using the code AUTHOR10 (but only until midnight tonight!)

Lastly, we started foster parent training this week (virtually), and I attempted to take Byron to get his driving permit. Despite spending over an hour at the Motor Vehicle Commission, it’ll be another week until he can take his written test. No, we didn’t forget to take any paperwork the first time, they just require you to go in twice just for the permit. Tony and I also spent all day Wednesday at Children’s Hospital with Fulton and Teddy being told they’re doing great in everything. So lots of good time consuming things eating up my holiday vacation.

How was your week? Write it down then link it up below. Be sure to include a link back to this post so your readers can find the rest of the Quick Takes. I look forward to reading your posts!