Another full December weekend is in the books. And my house is full — my oldest is back home after finishing his first semester of college. I’m so proud of how well he has done, both academically and in terms of adjusting to life away from home. He came home Saturday night and has been sleeping off a lot of the late night finals studying. There is so much terrible news in the world. I am so grateful to have my family all here again.
My husband and I went to his work holiday party on Friday night. There was a “roaring 20s” theme and so I decided to go all out with a flapper costume. I think it turned out pretty well. And we were home by about 11 p.m. so hey, my kind of party.
On Saturday morning I had a rehearsal for my church choir concert. Then I took my three middle children ice-skating at the downtown rink on the river. This had been requested on the holiday fun list, though I’m not sure the kids liked it so much. I did. So I guess I need to try to convince at least one of them to go back if I’m going to do it again (I’m not sure I’d go by myself…). I did sweeten the deal with funnel cake afterwards. It’s such a cute set up with lots of food huts and Christmas decorations around the rink. And you’re swirling around the rink in the cold, listening to music…a very winter-specific form of fun. At night I supervised various kid friends coming over and then welcomed the oldest home. He requested I make him a pizza for his arrival, so I did!
Sunday I had planned to do the usual routine of going to church for my 9:00 a.m. rehearsal, then coming back between 9:30-10:00 to get my three youngest kids for the service and Sunday school. However, we woke up to about 6 inches of snow. I don’t think we had been supposed to get this much, but it was truly a winter wonderland. My husband started shoveling the driveway and I cleaned off the cars, but as of 9:00 we were still buried pretty deep. So instead we spent the morning sledding down the hill in our yard and walking around taking pictures of how beautiful it was. I probably went down the hill more times than anyone else.
In the afternoon (when the driveway and roads were clear) my husband and the 16-year-old went to the Eagles game (we got tickets in the nursery school silent auction last spring). I took the 14-year-old shopping for sibling gifts and then I went to my church choir concert. We sang Pinkham’s Christmas Cantata with brass, among other pieces, like this nutty Iain Farrington Nova Nova one.
Back home, there was dinner and scouts and then the news that schools would have a 2-hour delay this morning. So the kids got a slightly longer weekend, and were excited about that.
If you’re looking for some reading material, my Best of Both Worlds co-host, Sarah Hart-Unger, has a book coming out tomorrow. Best Laid Plans is all about how to build planning systems that support your busy life. Please check it out!