Snippets from Christmas before January passes us by...

I've got a sleeping Bear on my chest as I attempt to stir up creativity for some virtual scrapbooking. I just ordered our hard back 2023 blog books and so feel kinda inspired to keep this up! A walk with a friend this afternoon needed to be rescheduled due to illness, a common happening these days. We continue to feel very grateful for good health and to exercise a lot of caution around indoor gatherings as all sorts of viruses seem to making their rounds right now.

Illnesses, and attempting to avoid them, meant that none of our family ended up traveling over the holidays. I was already gonna be home due to being on call for a birth, but this meant that I didn't have to ring in the New Year alone. 

But backing up to Christmas Eve and Christmas day for a bit: those were the two days our T.W. crew of 7 spent some sweet and fun holiday times together. After soaking in the beauty of Hensley's Pond in the afternoon with some of the Benner clan, we settled into an evening in Mom and Dad's cozy home. They were in charge of the food and festivities for that evening and it included some storytelling with a twist, a game that got our hearts pumping and the giggles going, Christmas ornament making from toilet paper tubes, finally learning SkyJo Action, AND lots of delicious food!

There was a good dose of silliness in the mix too!

We then spent the first part of Christmas day just the 5 of us downstairs, unearthing what was in all the packages under the tree. We didn't make a breakfast OR lunch plan as we knew Mom was making Christmas danishes AND a good portion of the gifts were food that we'd want to be able to enjoy tasting. So other than a vat of hot chocolate, I didn't make any food before our Christmas feast in the evening!

It was a sweet and special morning. I was still wondering how to be present to our day together and also hold the heaviness of all the horrible things happening in the world. We took a moment to light a candle together in the morning and had that lit throughout our day. While this changes nothing about the state of the world, it shifted something in me and helped me just a little to hold both.

One of the sweetest things for me in receiving presents from our girls is how well they know us. Jason got a Pez dispenser from them for his Lactaid and I got a wood burned "you choose" coupon from Terah. I also got a belated present from the girls of a frame with a series of laundry photographs which I adore. They know how much I love the sight of laundry drying on the line and decided to give me options of various laundry shots to brighten my spirits as needed! This was in addition to the various things I asked for - I've used my new hand mixer, spatulas and little metal turner many times already! I have not quite eaten all the chocolate caramel coffee beans!

I think everyone felt pretty excited about the gifts picked out for them! I always get worried that, in the lackadaisical way I got about shopping for them, it won't feel "fair." But no one seems to be keeping track. 

Terah tried out her new shovel and Alida her new basketball before the day was out. It was a few days before we got around to playing Abducktion (Kali's new game).

We were in charge of food and fun for the evening. A few things about our time together felt particularly meaningful. We enjoyed Filipino snacks for our appetizer and in that way it felt a tiny bit like Tala was with us. Then during our time together we collectively put together a care package for a friend from Gaza currently living the nightmare happening in her home via Canada where she is a student. We closed out the night enjoying German treats while playing dominos, bringing back sweet memories of Rachel's visit with us in the fall. So while it was just the 7 of us for the evening, our circle felt bigger!

We dined on a mostly-Tangly-Woods-derived feast and then enjoyed a number of fun activities, including sardines, a drawing game that Terah clearly now sees as a yearly tradition now, and there were a few Christmas carols played on the piano for us here and there.

Of all the gifts given, what I felt the deepest gratitude for was the tenderness in the relationships we share with each other around the table; relationships that have required tending and weeding and some hard work at times, but are yielding a really delightful harvest!