SOME CHRISTMAS FUN

There are still eight days until Christmas, but our month has been filled with festivity!!

12/1 - Silas and Natie went to Follow the Star in Gladstone. Natie had been there before, but it was Silas' first time. He enjoyed it!

12/2 - Naomi strung the lights for our tree in the afternoon while she and Devon were home alone one afternoon, then all the Ws, along with Gabriel, cranked some Christmas tunes and hung ornaments that evening.

12/3 - Silas took Natie along to the Woodburn Fire District's Christmas party. Picture with Santa? Check.

12/13 - Devon, Naomi, Tyler, and I hunkered down to watch White Christmas and eat candy canes together. 

12/14 - The little Ws and I spent our morning making dozens of Christmas sugar cookies. 

Three little Ws (one's barely visible in the back of the picture) and I headed out to drive through the living nativity at Hoodview Church of God, then checked out some Christmas lights around town.

Here's just one of the stations they had set up.

Silas was gone most of the day, but the other Ws and Gabriel spent the evening decorating sugar cookies after Tim got home from work. So fun!

12/15 - We all got to watch the Christmas Ships Parade for the first time in a few years. Both fleets were out, the rain held off, friends joined us, and we ate cookies. Couldn't ask for a better evening! Took a picture of our group before everyone else arrived.

Had Devon take a picture of me and Tim.

Took a few imperfect shots of all the kids. There was no way they'd all take us seriously and look at the camera and avoid blinking and give genuine smiles all at the same time. So, here's what we got. Good enough.

One more shot of our group.

12/16 - We had a great evening filled with Christmas songs, hymns, and cookies with our church family. Since we love Kit and sit together at every service, and since everyone thinks we're related anyway, we wanted her in our family picture.

Of course, there's also been Christmas music playing every day, Advent readings, various combinations of Ws going Christmas shopping together, and wrapped gifts slowly appearing under the tree. It's a fun time of year!

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AFTERNOON AT CENTENNIAL

I was going to sit on the front porch and enjoy a book in the sunshine for a bit during down time yesterday, then decided to load everyone up and head out to soak up the blue skies instead. The unanimous vote was for Centennial Park, so drove down and spent the next hour and a half enjoying the beautiful weather. 

Devon and Tyler took a quick break from a long game of tag all four kids were playing together to pose for a picture.

Naomi and Silas took a break while we did the loop of exercise equipment, but he decided to be punky and not smile.

So she helped him.

Success!

All four sibs hanging out at the parallel bars.

We tried to take a group shot to prove we were all there together, but something went wonky and our attempt was an utter failure. So Tyler took a picture of me by myself to go with the sibling shots. Good enough!

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for technology that allows me to hear voices and see faces of my family and friends who don't live close enough to conveniently hang out with. What's one thing that you're thankful for?

SWEETNESS IN DISAPPOINTMENT

Last night I was supposed to be at our church's Women's Christmas Dessert. Instead, for reasons beyond anyone's control, my ticket and I were at home. 

I've missed the event several times over the years, which hasn't bothered me at all, but this was the first time I'd had my plans to go be foiled. Silas was there, having driven up earlier in the day to work, and Devon was there because he volunteered to help with parking, which meant I had to battle an hour of torrential rains and rush hour traffic to drop him off at an event I wanted to be at myself. I cried the whole way home.

In the scheme of things, it's not that big of a deal. I'm not facing my first Christmas after the death of my teenager, like one friend is. I'm not facing my first Christmas with a broken marriage, like another friend is. I'm not a single parent of young kids who never leaves home by myself because there's no extra money for the fluff of life and no one's available to watch the kids who are too young to stay home alone, which is the reality of several people I know. It was just a few hours of eating treats, singing songs, listening to a speaker, and visiting with friends and strangers. 

But I was looking forward to it.

I had a pity party for myself all day long, complete with tears and a little temper tantrum at one point, bemoaning all the reasons I was upset about it, so today I want to document what was good about the situation. Because there's always good, even if it takes me a while to recognize it.

Full disclosure: I took the ticket picture last night with every intention of sharing it on Facebook in a whiny post, even though I think whiny posts about trivial problems are incredibly annoying. Double points for immaturity and hypocrisy. We've all done those whiny posts at some point, but it's much better to use the picture today in a grateful post!

* Silas offered to stay home from work so that I could attend. Although he could have done that, responsibilities trump privileges. I insisted he go to work, but was so grateful for his willingness to change his day (and paycheck) around on my behalf.

* Naomi and I took Tyler out to do his Christmas shopping. He'd already purchased a gift for Naomi, but got the remaining four last night. I love seeing my kids' thought processes as they choose gifts for others and appreciated Naomi sticking with him at the end since I had to stay away for the sake of not seeing his gift for me.

* We got in the car after shopping and Naomi handed me a bag of Twix. Although baked goods are the biggest weakness for my sweet tooth, I love Twix. A lot. She knew I was really disappointed about missing the church event and wanted to brighten up my evening a bit, which was super thoughtful.

* Beep sent a text while we were at the store, asking if I was free to chat. I let her know I was busy at the moment, but we spent an hour on the phone later in the evening. I'd have missed that opportunity for conversation with my sister completely if I'd been gone.

* I got lots of hugs and gratitude from Naomi and Tyler for letting them stay up late to watch a movie in a room lit only by Christmas lights. I loved seeing them all cozy under blankets, hunkered down for a mellow evening.

* I opened my bedroom door this morning and discovered this hanging on my doorknob.

All the women who attend the event are given a wall calendar. I've enjoyed the one from last year, but knew I'd forfeited this year's when I missed the event. Except Devon brought one home for me! These calendars are neat because all the artwork is done by women in our church family and it's designed in such a way that the pictures will fit in an 8x10 frame if you cut the calendar part off when you're done with it.

* Walking into the kitchen, I found they brought home a bag filled with grapes that were leftovers from last night. I love produce!

I'm still bummed that I couldn't go last night, but such is life. I may have missed sweet things to eat, but there was an abundance of other kinds of sweetness!

ONE DECADE

This month marks ten years that Tiffany, Susan, Tim, and I have been working together in the one year old class on Wednesday nights at church. Ten years. A whole decade as a team! It seems like just a few months ago that we passed the six year mark. Time flies when you're having fun!

TYLER'S BIRTHDAY - 2018

Tyler celebrated his birthday in two parts this year. Sunday afternoon he and a few friends spent part of the afternoon swimming and sliding at the Woodburn Aquatic Center. 

Today he had the traditional doughnut date with Tim for breakfast, donned the birthday outfit to strike a few goofy poses, enjoyed his dinner of choice, and opened gifts from family members. 

Right now he and a friend are happily playing with some of his gifts, thankful to be staying up late and pleased with how his birthday celebrations have gone. 

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for winter sunshine I can soak up while sipping tea and reading a book on the front porch or while going on spontaneous walks through the neighborhood with a friend, other Ws, or by myself. What's one thing that you're thankful for?