Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Our kids have grown in the last 6 months since I’ve written. Pictured above are Lena (7), Gil (5), Forest (2), Amos (6 months), and the lovely Sadie, our Australian Labradoodle.
Best part of Christmas this year: my sister Emily got engaged to the love her life, the wonderful Nate. We’re thrilled to have gained a brother!
Gil’s favorite gift this year, a bow and arrow set! Complete with 2 bows and 2 quivers of arrows — and the arrows are rubber-tipped, which gives the parents some measure of relief.
Reading with Grampa on Christmas Eve back in Charlottesville with Elliott’s side of the family.
Gil lost his second bottom tooth on Christmas Eve. Elliott pulled it out at Gil’s request! So all he truly wanted for Christmas were his two front teeth — except in reality he didn’t care at all, of course.
Gil and his cousin Toddy before the present-opening began at our second Christmas in Charlottesville with Elliott’s side of the family.
Forest, Gil, Toddy, and little Amos.
First Christmas for Amos! And Elliott gave me an iPhone XS for Christmas with “portrait mode,” so I have been having so much fun with its new capabilities.
Two boys I love very much.
Cousins Amos and Margaret Anne, born just 6 months apart.
Hey there. :) It’s been a while!
One of my New Year’s goals last year was to blog once a week. Clearly… that goal died an early, sad little death. But these are precious years, and I have so many thoughts as we live through these busy days, so I’m going try again to capture little bits and pieces of them on this old blog.
Since I’ve learned the hard way that attempting to become a whole new person on January 1 each year is impossible, I thought I’d start some of my New Year’s goals now.
Last night I read a blog post about how to make New Year’s resolutions/goals, and the blog post was especially focused on those of us in a busy–even overwhelming–season of life.
Misty’s first piece of advice was to brain dump. Just write and write for yourself:
- the things that aren’t working
- the things that are working
- you imaginary ideal
From there, cross out everything you possibly can that drags you down, that isn’t necessary, that stresses you with an unrealistic standard.
And then… plan your year. Plan your goals. Move forward in grace and with realistic expectations and limited goals.
I loved this approach, and I’m going to put it into practice today. Misty Winkler is also hosting a live workshop on goal-setting tomorrow at 12p/9a PST, which I’m going to try to watch. I never do this, but it seems worth it this time! Goal setting and fresh starts are some of my favorite things.
So anyway, on to some brain dumping and goal planning for me! Do you have any goals or resolutions you really want to start or accomplish in 2019?
Merry Christmas, what a happy family