I got behind on December because my computer doesn't want to work with the platform I have the blog on. It's an annoying problem EVERY single month, but changing would require work I'm not ready for.Gwen and Emily had been requesting we do an elf on the shelf non stop for years. This year they doubled down and I was adamant about not doing it. Instead we started a new tradition of a month of advent activities. We had simple ones like watching a video together, playing games, going on a walk, and serving others all the way to visiting the temple with cousins and hot cocoa, sending letters and goodies to family, made ornaments, decorated gingerbread houses, movie nights, band concerts, orchestra concerts, piano recitals, and more. It was lovely. I truly think it was one of the sweetest things we've done together as a family. It made us take time each and every day to be with one another, which can be difficult during the fast pace of the holidays. We will do this every year, hopefully.
Emily had her first orchestra recital! We loved seeing her play her viola. She has worked so hard and is so good at reading music. Next year she is hopeful she can play the bass.
Gwen had her final Christmas band concert with the elementary school. She played so great and we love her!
Gwen had another swim meet, and this one was in far off Scottsdale. We had planned to stay all night, but we decided to leave early because we were frozen and unprepared for the meet.
The flu got us. Gwen was first. It was horrible. Her fever ran so high and she was so sick. It looks days before her fever finally broke. It got to Wade after that, and his fever was even worse. I took him to the hospital the day before Christmas Eve because we could't get his fever down from 105 degrees and I was worried abut his brain function. The hospital doctor told me that this flu was really running the kids ragged and also told me to expect 5 full days of fever. We gave Wade meds around the clock. He finally was better, and then it got Emily. She was the quickest to recover. One day of fever and then she was back to normal. I'm thankful Jake didn't get sick because when it hit me a few days later, I needed Jake to nurse me to health! I kept saying "this is going to be worse than Covid!" but who knows. We had the flu during Christmas and Wade couldn't even open presents that morning. The ones we made him open were complete surprises to him when he was finally better because he had no recollection of opening them prior.
I went to a team work dinner with my national group.
Jake got new contacts!!! Yay!!!
Wade had a party at school and loved it. Ms. Kristy got him a special shirt with a pout pout fish on it!
We celebrated New Year's Eve out front with several different neighbors, and enjoyed all the fireworks that everyone contributed.
We are so blessed. We have a beautiful family with health overflowing, a beautiful home, reliable transportation, access to food and care, and the comforts of life. This year was a year of painful firsts and we have grown so much from it. We've clung together through scary chapters of life, and are so thankful to be on the other side of it now. God is good all the time.
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| Christmas Jammies! |
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