Our Week - The One with Moana 2, Christmas Caroling, and a Very Sick Christmas

Last week didn’t turn out how we expected at all.  BUT. We played the hand we were dealt, we’re now on the up and up, and hopefully, this week we can redeem our Christmas break!

Monday, December 23

Monday, Brian was off of work, so we all slept in, and then after a quick breakfast and getting ready, we headed to the movies.  But first, a Starbucks stop!

We had been wanting to see Moana 2 since it came out Thanksgiving week, so we finally got to see it Monday.  We decided to go to the 10:20 AM show since hardly any people are ever at those, and we had nearly the whole place to ourselves. 

We found out that morning that it was in one of the theaters with the recliners, so that made it even better, and Olivia and I brought along our snuggly blankets.  I put my Peppermint Mocha in a gallon Ziploc bag to keep it from leaking in my bag, and I snuck it right in the theater.  I highly recommend sneaking a festive hot beverage into the movie theater for a morning show.  It was the best treat… better than popcorn! 

Funny story, when we first arrived at the theater, the guy checking the tickets told us our movie was in theater #13, so we headed in, got all situated, and waited for the movie to start.  As we were waiting, a grown man came in the theater by himself and sat down.  While I wasn’t judging, I did think it was a little odd that he was going to see Moana 2 all by himself. 

The trailers started at 10:25 AM, and the first one was for a movie that was rated R… that raised a TON of red flags for me because I worked at the movie theater for years when I was younger, and we were NEVER allowed to put a rated R trailer before a kids’ movie… I mean, that’s just common sense.

Well, then, in walked two more grown men, all alone, and they sat down separately, and I looked at Brian and said, “Uhhhh, I think you need to doublecheck our tickets and see which theater we’re supposed to be in, because this just doesn’t seem right.” 

Sure enough, we were supposed to be in theater #12, not #13 as #13 was showing some movie called Kraven the Hunter that was rated R.  LOLOLOLOL. 

We packed up our stuff and walked next door to get settled in in the proper theater, and that’s the last time I’ll be listening to the ticket checking guy at the door.  Hahahaha.  Always double-check your tickets and make sure you make it to the right one!  Lol.

Thankfully, we’d been able to reserve the seats we’d wanted in advance, so we were able to sit in the best seats in the whole theater (always the back row for the recliner auditoriums) and it was all good.  They were showing trailers for kids’ movies, thank goodness, because my heart couldn’t handle that rated R trailer that the kids had seen in the other theater.  Sigh.

We all ended up really enjoying the movie.  I’m always a little wary of sequels just because they’re rarely as good as the originals, but Moana 2 didn’t disappoint!  And, of course, it gave me all the feels like every single other Disney movie always does.

After the movie, we swung by Chick-Fil-A to pick up lunch and take it home, and then after we ate, Brian and the kids went outside to play basketball all afternoon.  It was beautiful and sunny, but it was COLD, so I stayed out there with them for about 15 minutes and I was done.  Haha.

I went inside to fold and put away some towels, and then I ironed the kids’ new shower curtain and got it hung.  Theirs was awwwwful – SO GROSS – so it’ll be nice to enter the new year with a better-looking bathroom for them.

After that, the kids did some screen time, and I headed to my office to finish a blog post and watch Serendipity.

At 5:30, our neighborhood HOA held a Christmas caroling event in one of our neighbor’s yards.  They had an acapella group who sang a few songs, and they had hot chocolate and Christmas cookies for everyone.

The guys who sang were awesome – they sang some good stuff!  Namely, I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas (the version from Home Alone that we all know and love), Mary, Did You Know (that’s one of my favorites ever), and Let It Snow (the Boyz II Men version) to name a few.

The four of us walked down there with Maui in tow right at 5:30, but Brian and Jacob had to leave at 5:50 to get Jacob to a Velocity event.  They were doing a Nerf Night to kick off Christmas Break, so he was excited to spend the evening with his friends.

Brian came back after he dropped Jacob, and then he and Olivia and I walked home together.  By the time we got home, it was time for dinner, so Olivia helped me cook beef and parmesan pasta.

After dinner, I got in a stair stepper workout while Olivia got showered, and Brian headed back out to pick up Jacob.  He’d had the best time at his event!  They’d eaten pizza and treats, and Nerf battled all evening long.

When he got home, he got showered, and then they went to bed a little earlier than previous nights because we knew we were going to have a super late night on Christmas Eve.

After the kids went to bed, Brian and I had our 22nd annual viewing of Love Actually, one of my favorite movies of all time.  Year after year, it never gets old!

Tuesday, December 24

Tuesday morning was Christmas Eve (one of my favorite days of the whole year), we slept in, had breakfast, and then spent the morning watching Christmas movies together.  Olivia was thrilled because our Elf had gotten inside a container so she could carry him around all day.

First up, for movies, we watched Meet Me Next Christmas.  We found out about it because Pentatonix is in it, so they talked about it at their concert.  And although it was a little Hallmark-y, it did have some really funny parts, and I thought it was really cute.

After that, we watched Miracle on 34th Street (the 1994 version) and while we watched, Brian and Olivia baked a batch of candy cane Christmas cookies along with some chocolate chip cookies.

We all had a quick lunch after that, and then the kids started watching Christmas Chronicles while I headed to my office to do my Bible study and then get ready for church.

We went to 4 PM Children’s Mass and my whole extended family was there along with lots of other friends from school.  The whole time during Mass, Olivia was sniffling, but I didn’t think anything of it because she had forgotten to take her Claritin that morning.  She has constant issues with allergies (just like me), so she often has a sniffly, runny, or stuffy nose.

After church, we swung by our favorite Mexican restaurant to pick up cheese dip, salsa, and chips, and then we headed home to grab Maui and our Christmas gifts, along with a few bottles of wine.  And the kids changed into their Christmas PJs.

We got to my parents’ house around six and stayed there all night.  Christmas Eve is usually my favorite day of the whole year, but this Christmas Eve just felt a little “off.”  My brother and sister-in-law and their kids weren’t here (which wasn’t the first time, so that wasn’t the main reason), but then my littlest brother ended up being really late and was barely there at all.  My uncle and his girlfriend left early, Mama Cass wasn’t there because she was hanging with my aunt and uncle, and my father-in-law didn’t join us as he usually does, so it was just a really small group, and it was odd with everyone coming and going at different times. 

We also got a text from my sister-in-law while we were there saying that my brother-in-law’s mom had passed away unexpectedly.  She has been sick for a while, but I don’t think they were expecting her to pass, so I felt terrible for my SIL and BIL and my nephews… not the news you want to get on Christmas Eve.  My Nana died on Christmas Eve in 2019, and it really was such a sad day for that to happen.

My parents’ neighbors did end up stopping by and staying the whole night, and they were really nice.  They recently moved in next-door, and I’d never met them, so it was nice to meet them since I’d heard a lot about them.

Momma made her famous white chicken chili and then we had the chips and salsa and cheese dip that we’d picked up from the restaurant.  She used to make a big traditional Christmas spread every year, but we decided to start the white chicken chili tradition a few years ago because it’s SO much easier and much less stressful for everyone, and it’s my favorite thing now!  It’s always one of my favorite meals that she cooks and it’s perfect for winter time and cold weather which we had a lot of last week.

We also had loads of desserts… too many to count.  So, we all ate a ton and drank a lot of wine, and then we opened presents.  Can you tell that Olivia and I love Taylor Swift?!  Haha.

Once gifts were open, we turned on Home Alone, and then we headed out once it was over.  We didn’t get home until nearly 10:45 and the kids still wanted to leave out cookies and milk and say goodbye to Cheek, our elf, so they didn’t get into bed until after 11.

After they went to bed, Brian and I watched Christmas Vacation, and then it was time for Santa to do his thing!!  ;o)

 

Wednesday, December 25

We’ve always been very blessed on Christmas Day in that we’ve always managed to avoid sickness, but unfortunately, our streak ended this year.  This Christmas Day ended up being the worst one we’ve had as a family of four.  The kids came in our room to wake us at 7:15, we headed downstairs and the kids opened their gifts.  We gave Jacob an Apple Watch for his big gift this year because his little kid watch that we gave him five years ago was hanging on by a thread, and he was SO excited.  Olivia got a digital camera for her big gift and she has been using it constantly.  Christmas success!

About 10 minutes after we went downstairs, Olivia curled up on the floor and said that she was really tired and that she wanted to go back to bed. 

What?

I felt her forehead, and she was burning up, so I took her temp, and sure enough, she had a fever of 100.9 which isn’t very high, but for a kid who pretty much never runs fever, that’s pretty high.

I ran upstairs to grab a Covid/Flu A/Flu B test that we (thankfully) had left over from when I had Covid earlier in the month, and, unfortunately, she tested positive for Flu A AKA the bad one. 

Sigh.

The only time she had Flu A was in 2021, and she was SO, SO SICK and it was SO scary.  She ran a fever for seven days straight and was lethargic the entire week.  Her fever got up to nearly 105 one of the nights, and we nearly had to load her up and take her to the emergency room.

Once I knew she had Flu A, I knew we needed to get her some meds and FAST.  The only problem was that it was Christmas Day, the one day that everything is closed.  Sigh.

For the next hour, Brian searched for and monitored local pharmacies online because it wasn’t clear which ones were actually closed for Christmas and if there were any even open.  He also listed our tickets to see Straight No Chaser in Atlanta on Friday night on StubHub because we knew there was no way she would make a full recovery by then, and we also knew that we needed to get them listed if we wanted to try to get any money back at all for them.  We were all SO excited about seeing them (in the fourth freaking row!), but sadly, we had to give them up.

While he did that, I texted my family to let them know since we’d just spent the whole evening with them, and then I had to text some friends who we were supposed to be getting together with the next day + Brian’s family as we had two celebrations with them coming up on Saturday and Sunday. 

After that, I made breakfast – French toast, bacon, strawberries, and mimosas – and Brian, Jacob and I ate, but Olivia lay on the floor finishing Christmas Chronicles from the previous day because she could barely sit up.  And she didn’t want to eat at all.

After breakfast, Brian found a pharmacy that was actually open, so I called Olivia’s pediatrician’s office and got transferred to their emergency service.  They were able to page the doctor on call who just happened to be her actual doctor, and within minutes he had called in Tamiflu for her.

Once the Tylenol kicked in, Olivia got up and moved around for a little bit, and she even asked for one single chicken finger to eat, and she also had a protein bar with it.  Weird combo, but I was just happy that she ate something.

Brian and I finally took the time to open our gifts from each other after that, but it was more of an afterthought, and the kids weren’t even there like they usually are… so the day was just really weird.  It didn’t feel like Christmas at all.

Brian showered and ran out to pick up the Tamiflu, and while he did that, Jacob went upstairs to play his new video game he’d gotten for Christmas and Olivia went up to her room get in the bed and watch crafting videos by her favorite YouTuber.

I always take a Christmas day nap – it’s the only day of the whole year that I ever take a nap – but there were a ton of people texting me constantly about Olivia, so I just rested on the couch while Brian was gone, and I never actually got to sleep.  I had also been feeling super dizzy all morning – probably from anxiety after realizing that Olivia had the flu – so I felt miserable for most of the day, too.

When Brian got home, he gave Olivia her first dose of the Tamiflu… we wanted to get it started immediately.  And then after that, Brian and Jacob and I had a light lunch, and then I cleaned and sanitized the kitchen. 

It wasn’t long before Olivia’s fever came back, this time even worse – 102.4 – so I grabbed some Ibuprofen and gave it to her, and immediately, that triggered a response in her stomach and everything (including the Tamiflu and the fever reducing meds, I’m sure), came back up.  For the love.

I got her situated in bed with a cool cloth and a few minutes later, I gave her some crackers to ease her stomach.  Her fever was rising, and I knew we needed to get some meds in her immediately, so we tried Tylenol again after the crackers stayed down, and thankfully, she was able to keep it down.  However, it barely worked, and my poor girl was still burning up an hour later.  I’m telling you, that fever is the DEVIL when this girl has the flu.  It is so scary.

The rest of the afternoon, everyone stayed in separate rooms – Brian watched football downstairs, I stayed in my office because I wanted to be in hearing distance of her bedroom since she was in there, and Jacob stayed in the playroom playing video games. 

It was the least Christmasy Christmas ever, y’all.  It is what it is, though.  And also, I’m really getting sick of having to use that phrase because I’ve been having to use it a TON lately and it’s getting really old.

My aunt came over to pick up the five pounds of potatoes that I was supposed to make for our family’s celebration that night, and she dropped off a book because she knew I was about to be stuck at home for days on end again.

On Christmas Day, Maui also wouldn’t touch her food.  I fed her twice as I always do, and she didn’t eat a single bite whatsoever.  She has a new wet prescription food that she has been LOVING, but for some reason she wouldn’t touch it on Christmas Day.  Her weight is already dangerously low, so that was stressing me out, too.

Around five, I finally got showered and ready, and then I headed out to pick up dinner from my extended family’s gathering that we were missing.  That was our time to be able to spend with Mama Cass and a few relatives who were in town, and we didn’t even get to see them this year.  Ugggghhhh.

We missed SO MUCH earlier in the month while I had Covid and then we missed SO MUCH from this flu that Olivia got.  It was quite a crappy end to the year.

Dinner was delicious, and I was grateful that they’d made plates for us.  Olivia wouldn’t eat much, but she did manage to eat a little bit of ham, a little bit of mac n cheese, and one of my Aunt Joy’s famous cinnamon muffins. 

By the end of dinner, she was laying her head down on the table from exhaustion and she told us she was ready for bed… at 7:15.  My poor girl. 

I gave her a dose of Tylenol for her fever that was still raging, and then we gave her a dose of Tamiflu (and crossed all of our fingers that this dose would stay down), and then I helped her brush her teeth and get into bed.  She passed out immediately, and then I headed back downstairs to hang with the boys.

We watched the end of the original Grinch movie and the beginning of Jim Carrey Grinch movie and then we sent Jacob to bed a little early since he’d gotten no sleep the night before, and I wanted his immune system to stay strong. 

Brian and I started watching that Ryan Reynolds/Will Ferrel Christmas movie called Spirited, but 30 minutes into it, I was bored out of my mind, so we made the switch to Shrinking, season two since we’d not yet started that.  We watched two episodes of that (the BEST show) and then we headed to bed.

I wanted to give Olivia more medicine at 11:30 before we headed to bed, so I took her temp while she slept, and it still showed that she had a fever.  Although it wasn’t very high, I wanted to get some Ibuprofen in her system because I was so worried about her fever spiking to 105 like the last time.  It was impossible to wake her – she opened her eyes and was talking out of her head, but she wasn’t really awake – so it took about 10 minutes to get the medicine in her.  After she took the medicine, she passed out again, and then Brian and I headed to bed, leaving Olivia’s door open and our door open in case she needed us in the middle of the night.

 

Thursday, December 26

I set an alarm for 4 AM to check on her midway through the night, but I couldn’t sleep because I was so worried about her, so I finally got out of the bed around 3:30 AM.  She was blessedly cool – the medicine had FINALLY worked to take her temp all the way down – so I was able to close both doors and finally get some good sleep.

I woke at 8:30 and headed straight to her room.  She had just awakened after 13 hours of sleep, and she looked a thousand times better.  She was up and playing with a couple of her gifts that she’d gotten for Christmas, and she was only running a low-grade fever even though her medicine had worn off hours before that.

She wasn’t hungry for breakfast, but I knew she needed to take Tamiflu, so we all ate without her, and then mid-morning, I told her she had to eat something so she could take the medicine.  She ate one of Aunt Joy’s cinnamon muffins – it was the only thing she would even consider – and then she took another dose of Tamiflu… and thankfully, it stayed down this time. 

After that, she was up all morning crafting, writing in her new journal that Santa had brought, and watching a movie with Jacob and I was SO DANG RELIEVED to see her doing so well just two days in. 

I spent the morning in my office catching up on a few blog things, and then late in the morning, we turned on some Christmas music, pulled out all of the Christmas stuff that hadn’t been touched since it had been opened Christmas morning, and I think Thursday felt more like Christmas than actual Christmas Day did.  Haha. 

Jacob got all of his stuff put away, and I got most of my stuff put away, Brian and I scratched the lotto tickets we’d each put in each other’s stockings, and Olivia continued to work on some of the Christmas crafts she’d received.  She also took lots of pictures with her digital camera that we’d gotten for her. 

We all had a light lunch, and Olivia’s fever continued to stay down all on its own for the day.  Seriously a miracle after what we went through the last time!

After lunch, the kids both did some screen time, and I worked on the blog in my office.  We were supposed to have gone to poker night at our friends’ house Thursday evening, but they decided to reschedule since we couldn’t come. 

I also got word from my parents that my dad’s cousin had passed away from her brain tumor.  Again, so very sad for all of the family who had to experience that, especially at Christmastime. 

December 26 is almost always a stay-in-your-PJs-all-day kind of day for us, so it wasn’t as bad to have to be stuck at home Thursday, especially since it was rainy.  And my parents were kind enough to bring us some leftover white chicken chili for dinner since we had no food in the house.

Late Thursday afternoon, I did start feeling a little achy in my back, but it ended up being hormone issues… that does happen to me quite frequently where I feel like I’m coming down with something, but ultimately, it’s hormone related.

Thursday night, we had the leftover white chicken chili from my Momma, and Brian made a batch of margs.  I’ve mentioned that we’re trying to perfect the margarita at home, and I have to say, this was Brian’s best batch yet!

After dinner, the kids got showered and ready for bed, and I got a few things tidied up, and then we all sat down to watch some more of the Lego Masters holiday special that we’d never finished.

After we got the kids in the bed, Brian and I watched a couple more episodes of Shrinking (OMG SEASON 2 IS JUST AS GOOD AS SEASON 1), and then we headed to bed.

As we were heading to bed, Jacob came in our room because he couldn’t sleep.  It was nearly midnight at the point, so apparently, he had been laying there forever trying to go to sleep.  He has anxiety like I do (unfortunately), and although he’s barely had any issues with it in recent years, he does have trouble with it every now and then.  I think since Olivia was so sick he was worried about her, he worried he was going to get it, and he was sad that we had to miss out on so many things, and he just got in his head about it too much. 

I got him all settled back in bed, and after that he was good to go.

 

Friday, December 27

Friday morning, Brian, Jacob, and I had breakfast together – Olivia was still sleeping – and Jacob watched some TV while I got a few things done in my office. 

Olivia woke up at 10:15 so she got another long night of sleep, and she was feeling GREAT when she woke up.  No fever whatsoever.  It truly was a Christmas miracle that her flu was as short as it was.  So so grateful for that!

She immediately got to work on her gem art, and then the boys left to play golf.  We wanted to get Jacob out of the house to do something fun, and fresh air and exercise was a bonus, so golf was perfect.  It was a little chilly and very dreary on Friday, but they had a good time, and I was happy because it meant Jacob would hopefully sleep better Friday night.

While the boys were gone, Olivia and I watched The Eras Tour while she worked on her gem art, and I also started taking down Christmas decorations upstairs.  I like to have a clean slate on January 1, so we are the people who take everything down before then.  I know technically Epiphany is the end of the Christmas season, but I put my décor up so early that I’m ready to have it down for the New Year.

I chatted with my Momma on the phone while I took down the tree in my bedroom, and then I moved on to Jacob’s room followed by Olivia’s room.  Olivia wasn’t ready to have the tree out of her room, so I told her she could have it in there for one more light, but but I did take all of the decorations off of it so I could get them put away.

I also contacted her pediatrician’s office to find out how long we needed to quarantine since she was feeling better so quickly this time.  They told me that we were free to go about our normal business – go back to school, go out in public, etc. – as soon as she was fever free for 24 hours.  By Friday morning, she was already fever free for 24 hours, so technically that meant we were free to get out again, which also mean that… we could have actually gone to our Straight No Chaser concert in Atlanta. 

However, our tickets had all sold already (the only good thing about the whole situation – we were able to sell them and not lose money like we did with the Usher tickets!) – so we weren’t able to go.  I’m sure it’s for the best, but I’m still so very sad that we missed.  I had been looking forward to getting all dressed up, going out for a nice dinner, and spending the evening at The Fox Theatre in Atlanta… it’s my favorite venue… and we had fourth row center tickets.  Sigh.

Okay, I’m done wallowing now.  ;o)

The boys came home bearing gifts of lunch from Chipotle, and after lunch, I got the tree down in my office.  It looks so plain and boring in here now, though.  Part of me wants to just leave it up 24/7/365 for the rest of time.  It’s so much more festive in here with the extra lights and especially the rainbow of colors.  I’m already working on something fun for that empty wall in the new year…

After I got the tree down, I worked on the blog for a bit while the kids played video games, and then I headed out for a jog at dusk.  It was dreary all day, so it was pretty dark outside for my run, but it was so festive because everyone had their Christmas lights on!  I got in two miles, did a very quick arms workout, and then I headed inside to shower and put my PJs back on.

While I did that, Brian grabbed pizza from the local place we frequent after church since we hadn’t had it in forever, and then, we finished watching the Lego Masters holiday special.  After that, we started a series called Time Bandits on Netflix.  It has Lisa Kudrow in it, and although the beginning of the pilot episode started out pretty funny, the rest just wasn’t anything I’m interested in since it’s fantasy.  Both of the kids and Brian liked it, though.

It was a bit of a bummer knowing that we were supposed to be at our concert Friday night and we were missing it, but on a positive note, it did mean that I was able to enjoy this view for an extra night.

After the kids went to bed, Brian and I watched two more episodes of Shrinking, and then we headed to bed.

 

Saturday, December 28

Saturday morning, I made homemade waffles for breakfast, and then after sipping my cinnamon tea for a few minutes in my office, I hit the ground running.  I had made a list of things I wanted to have done before January 1, and it had 63 tasks on it (LOL) – everything from taking down Christmas décor to deep cleaning toilets to washing all of the sheets in the house to other random things that needed to be done.

First thing, I sorted all of our laundry and threw in a load, and then I took down the Christmas tree in Olivia’s room and got it boxed up and put away.  The kids did their laundry after my load was done, and then I did two more loads of towels.  While those were washing, I dusted the whole upstairs floor of the house, I deep cleaned all of the toilets, I got all of the Christmas decorations down in the formal dining room and the bathroom, I paid a couple of bills, I placed an order for some acrylic shelves on Amazon, and I made a donation to the school that we do annually since it was nearing the end of the year. 

After a light lunch, I deep-cleaned all of the countertops in the house, I got all of the dishes put away, and I tidied up a bunch of stuff.  Brian got all of the Christmas lights down from outside, but everything was wet from the rain, so he had to lay it all out on the back porch to dry.  He also got Olivia’s canopy rehung above her bed (for, like, the fourth or fifth time since she keeps accidentally pulling it down – sigh). 

I ended up getting 11 things completely crossed off the list, and I made a good dent in several of the other tasks.

After that, I did some blog work for about 30 minutes, and then I did my Bible study before getting ready for church.

Jacob and I went to 5:30 Mass with my Momma, Mama Cass, and Aunt Joy, and then on the way home, we picked up Five Guys for dinner.  While Olivia had long been cleared to get back out in public by then, we didn’t want to risk giving her germs to anyone at church since everyone sits so close together, so we decided to let her skip. 

After we ate dinner, we turned on The Santa Clause 3, and then after that, Brian and I watched two more episodes of Shrinking.  Y’allll it is just truly the BEST show.  I’m enjoying season two even more than season one and I LOVED season one.  It just keeps getting better.

Also, after getting the kids in the bed, Olivia said, “Mommy, take a picture of me in my bed!” and then she proceeded to pose like this.  So I guess you could say she was feeling better.  Haha.

I also soaked in this view for one last night because the next day, I knew everything but the tree was coming down.

Sunday, December 29

In the wee hours Sunday morning, we had a massive storm blow through that woke us all (except for Jacob – he sleeps through everything) and Olivia came running into our bedroom because she still doesn’t love a big storm.  She got in her sleeping bag on our floor and we all went back to sleep until 8:30.  We have been staying up later and later and sleeping in later and later each day.  Oops.

We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and then I headed to my office to do my yoga workout and watch my Sunday morning sermon (which particularly spoke to me this weekend), and then I spent some time getting my new planner prepped for January. 

I kept my time in my office very brief, and then I headed straight downstairs to take down the rest of the Christmas decorations… all but the big tree.  I left that up one more night. 

Brian took the kids to buy fireworks for New Year’s Eve late in the morning, and while they were gone, I washed all of the sheets (bye bye, flu germs!), I got all of Christmas taken down, I got all of the surfaces dusted downstairs, and I got all of my regular decorations back up.  I also switched out my Christmas coffee mugs for my everyday mugs, and I switched out all of my Christmas soaps and Christmas towels for the everyday stuff.

On the way back home, Brian and the kids picked up lunch (Jack’s for the kids and a local chicken finger place for Brian and me since we like it better) because we were all tired of eating the same old thing for lunch for days on end.

After lunch, Brian rehung the non-holiday art over the mantle (during the Christmas season I replace it with a mirror), and he got all of the outdoor Christmas lights put away, got the wreaths down from the windows, and got the garland, wreath, and outdoor trees inside. 

The kids put their sheets back on their beds, and I got to work on this blog post that you’re reading today because I am so behind on blogging it isn’t even funny.  This whole last three months have just been a whirlwind. 

I worked on the blog for a couple of hours in the afternoon while the kids played video games.  They both opted for Minecraft together which meant that I had to hear a lot of obnoxious laughter… and also bickering.  Haha.

I watched The Holiday while I worked (Christmas movies AAF) and I knocked out my whole blog post by 5:30.

At that point, I hadn’t even showered, so I got showered and into clean PJs, and the kids spent the whole evening outside because the weather finally cleared up and it wasn't so cold.

Brian and I made breakfast for dinner, and then we watched Big Daddy with the kids.  I love that movie so much and I laughed through the whole thing. 

Towards the end of the movie, I removed all of the ornaments from the tree (I knew I'd thank myself Monday morning) and then after the kids went to bed, Brian and I watched a couple more episodes of Shrinking.

And now for a few current things…

Currently Reading

This month, I continued making my way through Hope in the Dark: Believing God is Good When Life is Not by Craig Groeschel.  Sounds dramatic, but this constant dizziness has been getting to me, so I’m trying to fill my head with as many positive things as possible until this passes.  My library hold for The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose also finally became available, so I blew through that in three days because it was so dang good.

I’m also still reading New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional by Paul David Tripp as my daily devotional and I’ll be finishing it tomorrow!

In December, I ALSO FINISHED READING THE ENTIRE BIBLE FROM START TO FINISH!!!!  And I finished The Bible Recap!  I still can’t believe I did it, and I’m already doing it again… this time with a different study.  I’m already about ten days into the Bible and The Bible in a Year with Father Mike Schmitz, and I’m already learning new things even though I just studied it last year.

 

Currently Watching

With B: In November, we watched a few episodes of Saturday Night Live and we watched a few old episodes of Shark Tank.  We also started and finished the Jon Benet Ramsey special on Netflix.  And we watched a couple more episodes of The Chosen and we started season two of Shrinking.  We also had our annual viewings of Love Actually and Christmas Vacation, and of course, we watched a lot of ESPN College GameDay and college football, including the SEC Championship Game that Georgia won!  Woo hoooo!

With the Kids:  This month, we watched a ton more Christmas movies – Christmas Chronicles, The Santa Clause 1, 2, and 3, Home Alone (again), Elf, Miracle on 34th Street, The Family Switch, Meet Me Next Christmas and we also watched Matilda with Olivia while Jacob was gone one night + Big Daddy one night.  We also started and finished Is It Cake: Holiday and Lego Masters: Celebrity Holiday Bricktacular, the tree lighting special in Rockfeller Center, and Olivia watched Princess Diaries 2 on her own.  We also watched Moana 2 at the movie theater, and we just started Time Bandits.

Alone: Still just watching Serendipity and The Holiday on repeat while I work in my office when I’m not listening to music.

 

Currently Listening To

In December, it was all about Christmas music!  That, and some Taylor Swift and other random faves mixed in every now and then.  ;o) 

Happy Monday, y’all!