Merry Christmas 2021
Merry Christmas family & friends!
We have done a lot more in the spirit of the holidays compared to last year, and I am feeling proud of it! Don’t get me wrong, it is still hard to get out of bed some days, or I get really sad and angry, or I seriously just feel like staring off into space for a few hours. But thanks to me taking depression and trauma seriously, getting regular therapy, keeping faith, and having the best family in this universe, I am feeling confident that things in life can provide me with genuine smiles this holiday season. I always feel iffy writing about happiness/unhappiness because it seems like it might be a downer for everyone to read, but that's life! And there isn't any way of avoiding it. So that's that.
In case you are curious, we have already finished all of our Christmas shopping AND wrapping. We are usually still wrapping presents on Christmas Eve Day, but not this year! We have our lights up and the inside of the house is decorated too! We had to get a little help with motivation this year, so we had dad, mom and sis come over to eat pizza and decorate with us. We also got a new stocking holder for Franklin's stocking and one that matches it to put away for the next child (whomever they may be.) **Also, I don't know if it should say whoever or whomever, because I just don't. So I picked the one that sounded cooler.**
We have also visited our yearly drive-through Fantasy Lights a few exits down the freeway, enjoyed eating way too much cookie dough on annual cookie-baking day, made efforts to watch most of the good Christmas movies already and have gone Christmas light looking in the evenings after work.
Now that it is winter, mom has been finding crafty things to keep herself busy in the house. Among other projects, such as creating some hanging decorative baskets and her annual Christmas cards, she made wreaths this year. We made a nice billion-hour long shopping trip to Hobby Lobby and picked out way too many decorations for the wreaths, and she made this beauty! I was going to hang it outside, but it has been so windy that I was afraid it would blow off the door, or pieces would fall off. So it is now a decoration for our coffee nook area.
Speaking of wind and weather…today was the first snow of the season. It wasn't major, and none of it stuck, but it was still exciting! Because I love the snow! I am not a huge fan of driving in it (that is Josh's job) but I could just sit and watch it fall for hours. And I didn't work today, so I talked Josh into bringing me some coffee in bed and watched the snow fall for a while before I force-rolled myself out of bed. (Our kitty has a cold, so it gave me extra time to cuddle with him too!)
If you haven't noticed, I have been writing bi-weekly the last month or so. Mainly just because this season gets so crazy busy and I prefer to write about real things in life, rather than of a bunch of nonsense. But never fear, I will be back full force at the beginning of the year.
And just a little reminder for the holiday season. I know a lot of us get very wrapped up (ha!) in trying to create perfect family get-togethers or Christmas parties or New Year's Eve parties, or just in general get crazy with all of the holiday chaos. So please just remember:
Breathe. Enjoy. Love. Smile.
Merry Christmas from all of us to you!
🤶🎅Brooke, Josh, Franklin💙, Dakota, Minnie & Mickey
