It has been such a whirlwind since mid-November. From Thanksgiving to ALLLLL the Christmas parties and activities and traditions to Julia's 16th birthday to New Year's, we have been super social and busy. The boys have been home, which I have loved, and somewhere in there I got two teeth pulled, which I haven't loved. So much cooking, planning, game playing, eating, talking, laughing. Just a really full season, which I guess is to be expected! Here are the highlights:
The boys came home for Thanksgiving. We hadn't seen Gray since August drop off, aside from the one time we visited. He is different but the same, if that makes sense. We had a game night to catch up on family time.
The girls and I met Julia's friend Grace and her mom and sister to watch the second Wicked movie, which we loved.
My parents and Aunt Cheryl came to town and we hosted Thanksgiving. The first night, we went over to Jeannie's house and played the dictionary game, which ended up being our favorite game of the holiday. So many laughs over our silly definition suggestions, such as "woodbine" meaning going to Home Depot to get construction supplies, in Southern speak; and "termagant" meaning a tourniquet, except for animals.
Sadly, I didn't take a single picture here on Thanksgiving. It was a busy day in which the 3 older kids went to have Thanksgiving lunch at Nanny and Pa's while Allie, Mimi, and I made food (I spatchcocked a turkey with Mama's help, which was kind of reminded me of high school biology class!). Then Cheryl and Maddox came over and we played games and kept cooking. Then the rest of the Moores came and the kids returned with Gray's girlfriend and we played more games and kept cooking. Then Matt returned from work and we ate all the delicious food. We finished the night with an old fashioned game of "The Name Game", as we call it, but Christmas themed.
It was fun to host our first family gathering in the new house and the cousins had a great time in the basement over the holiday weekend.
Then December dawned and I got two lower teeth pulled. The process of getting them out wasn't painful but it was disturbing to be awake and hear what all was going on, plus just not knowing exactly what to expect. They are just after the canine teeth, so not huge, but one ended up giving me a lot of trouble, with pain for a week that I thought would never go away. I couldn't eat much of anything and was having to take more medication than I wanted. It felt so good to feel pain-free again once they started healing! This process of getting my jaw fixed is not easy and feels like it will be forever long till it's done, but I'm thankful to be able to do it.
Gray returned home within the week after Thanksgiving and I tried to begin doing our daily advent devotions and activities, without doing anything too special without Joshua, who wouldn't get home till mid-December. We went to the Hillsborough Christmas parade and Julia took Matt's place running in the elf fun run, since his foot has been injured from overuse. The girls seemed to have fun, aside from Julia's annoyance with Allie breaking the hand-holding between them and a church friend in order to appear to be "winning" when they passed us. (insert eye roll) We watched with the Moores and ordered pizza to eat while spectating.
When Joshua got home, we met the Moores and walked around our old neighborhood to look at Christmas lights. It was interesting to see that it wasn't as decked out as it used to be. I think when we lived there, many of the families had elementary-aged kids like us and now many of the kids are grown and it has changed with these aging families. It really was such an ideal place to raise our kids and holds some of our best memories, but I think we've all adjusted to moving on. That same weekend, we went to (and helped with) our church Christmas party, which I apparently didn't get pictures of. The highlight, besides the delicious food, was a speed UNO tournament, which we all 6 entered and had a lot of fun playing.
Then began the craziest week of the month. We had the usual school and work, plus a couple of appointments, cookie making, Community Group Christmas party that we hosted, Allie's Christmas concert, a gathering with the Stewarts for dinner and games that we hosted, dinner at Nanny and Pa's, and then the kids and I headed off to Rock Hill for Christmas with my side of the family. Whew. So much to do every day!
White Elephant at community group
Allie's last elementary holiday concert- nothing like the classic ones with the iconic Mr Mitchell, but still fun to watch
Joshua joined me for the show and we got to see Allie for a minute after before she went back to class.
"Left, Right, Center" with the Stewarts was fun!
(especially since I won)
We tried Family Feud this year, as part of our new game night tradition with the Stewarts, instead of doing cookies and ornaments.
The winning team
The other team
We arrived in Rock Hill at dinner time and the Leightons trickled in as the night went on. We hadn't been able to decorate gingerbread houses during the crazy week I had planned it, so I brought them with us and it ended up being a great ice-breaking activity for the cousin group, who hadn't seen each other in quite awhile. I made GrandGene the judge and he took less than 2 seconds to declare the prettier one the winner, though the older boys were quite disappointed that he didn't go for their NCSU tower.
The cousins, aside from JJ, spent the next day fishing (though they caught nothing and many became bored and focused on pushing a log in the water, nearly crushing Allie at one point and knocking Julia over at another) and briefly came home to eat and then more fishing. They eventually found a bait shop they loved and got some good bait and caught something, which Joshua had not been able to do in Rock Hill before. Apparently Gray even got a $13 rod and caught a fish. They were happy campers after that.
This is a cute picture but deceptive, as these two were only around for the beginning and very end. Amanda and I did most of it and it was nice to sit and catch up with her then and in general the whole weekend, as we just hardly get time together anymore.
Next came one of my very favorite traditions- our adoption group Christmas party, which we hosted this year. I think it's our 7th year doing it and things sure have changed over the years! When we started, we maybe had one high schooler and the rest were middle school down to our Chinese toddlers. Now, of the 25 of us, 15 are "adults", with 7 being college kids. It was so wonderful to all be together and see the kids all grown up and hear of their adventures, particularly Peter having come home from his first semester at Duke in China. We played some team games, with the favorite being Mad Libs Christmas carols that had to be performed. We ate good food, talked and laughed, and finished with our annual White Elephant. Fun night!
Allie won a mini waffle maker at our community group White Elephant (even though she was sequestered upstairs due to her cold and a brand new baby in the group) and she got to town making waffles for the family. She's really gotten so good in the kitchen.
Christmas morning came and we had a nice big breakfast and caught up on our Jesus Storybook advent stories and opened gifts. The rest of the day was a little weird because we were back and forth on the phone with Matt's side figuring out how to/whether to do our planned Christmas dinner, with Stewarts having the flu. We eventually decided not to and Matt's parents just came over briefly and then the Moores graciously invited us to join their Christmas dinner, which Hunter had prepared. It was not the day we thought it would be, but we enjoyed it anyway and had lots to be thankful for.
The next day we went to get Julia's cartilage piercing at a tattoo parlor, did some thrifting and boutique browsing in Swansboro, and ended the night with cake and movies. The girls got along well and were easy to "supervise". I think the weekend was all Julia wanted it to be. She and Addie even saw a few pods of dolphins when they went for a run!
The next morning we cleaned and went for one last look at the ocean before heading home.
While we were gone, the boys headed with Joshua's friend Alden to the Seahawks/Panthers game in Charlotte, which was his main Christmas gift. It was a drizzly, cold day and the first half of the game was slow, but then it picked up and the Seahawks won, so Joshua was happy. They went to Rock Hill for dinner with my parents before heading home.
The night of Julia's birthday, we had just gotten back from the beach and Julia wasn't feeling too well from all the food and driving, but Matt and I went to get Chipotle for dinner with Nanny and Pa. On the way home on a back road, a deer ran in front of us and we hit it with the front corner of the car, causing a good bit of damage. We were so glad we weren't hurt! It was a subdued rest of the night, but overall I think a great birthday for Julia.
The next day Julia and I drove to her license appointment in Winston Salem and she passed with flying colors. The examiner said I had raised a delightful young lady who was an amazing driver- one of the best he's ever seen. We were so proud! And then she headed off by herself to go to Addie's house and once again, "There Goes My Life" by Kenny Chesney was playing in my head as Allie and I waved to her driving away. She has since driven her and Allie to Walmart and driven herself to the track a couple of times. It's a whole new world for her and us!
We hosted New Year's Eve again and it was a fun night of games and lots of eating and laughing. Half the group also broke off to the basement to watch Stranger Things series finale and Gray left early to go to his Orange High friends party, which I wasn't pleased about, but I think it worked out okay and we all had a good time. It's been quite a year- living at Nanny and Pa's awaiting our new house to be finished, graduating Gray, going to Kenya, taking the boys to college, moving into the new house, getting braces and teeth pulled, Julia getting her license. I won't soon forget 2025!
No comments:
Post a Comment